Tales from the Crucible #3: The Magician and the Rocket

 

 

Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan:

a natural virtuoso genius

but ornery and mercurial;

the most talented cuesmith

ever to have picked up a stick

or to have run the risk

of cutting

a Steve Davis groove in his chin.

 

No love lost in this match

up against Shaun Murphy

aka "The Magician":

a man who knows his way

around a snooker table

and also a golf course.

 

(golf  noun  - a variation of snooker,

played outside by buffoons

wearing beefeater pantaloons.)

 

Maybe it's the occasion,

but The Magician's wand

lies limp in his hand.

Then, suddenly,

with a flash of fancy weskit,

he tenses. He fences

with an invisible dæmon.

It's a game of the mind,

so they say,

and he seems inhibited,

stiff and unbending,

like a blue suit and booted

Peter Powell at the ending

of Top of the Pops.

 

Mark King sings

like it's the dog days of the '80s.

Is it a crazy notion?

 

Living it up... I can feel it

Living it up... I got forward motion

 

B.R. 20/04/2017