March 18, 2008
What with poet laureate Andrew Motion no doubt pre-occupied penning an ode to Prince Harry’s exploits in Afghanistan* – and Philip Larkin, Lord Byron and Pam Ayres unavailable, it fell to David Adams to write the end of show poem for the 2008 Association for Coaching Conference.
This free form effort showed scant regard for classic poetic structures - hardly surprising Guru supposes given that Adams had to make it up – sorry create it – as last week’s event rumbled on. Yet let no critic say that Adams, himself a coach in creativity, did not capture the true spirit of the event. His 149 line epic, if not quite in the same league as say Coleridge’s Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner or Longfellow’s Hiawatha, nevertheless captured the sense of purpose that pervades coaching.
Lines such as: “Embracing excellence, embracing friends, charging fees” cut to the heart of coaching’s ultimate end game – making money. And the sheer genius of: “Shoes or coaching? Or is it, two pairs of shoes or coaching?” will surely have the editor of the Literary Review reaching for the laurel leaves.
Nor did Biblical references escape Adams’ poetic quill as the lines “Blessed be he who bloweth his own trumpet” testify. Yet, as we know, a coach’s existence is predicated on dealing with the difficult, nay the ultimate, questions. No doubt that’s why Adams included the lines: “Can a black hole be pregnant, Particularly at the performance edge?”
Er, well David, that’s probably best answered by the boys at Imperial College. But hey, reality and unreality are opposite sides of the many-sided coaching prism and we must strive to understand that. Nevertheless even Guru, someone who knows his sonnets from his limericks, struggled with “What’s your knife to skin moment: What’s you water jug round?”
Answers, in iambic pentameter, please.
Go to: http://davidadams.podbean.com/ for the complete work.
* In the barren hills of Hemland,
Where the sky is full of lead,
Harry was shooting up the Taliban
While William lay asleep in bed
Comments (3)
Dear Guru,
were you there? If so, you might have picked up that most of the lines you quote were those of the various speakers at the conference and not mine own. It's not that plagiarism rocks it's just that the lines were intended and indeed acted as a poetic summary of the events. Anyhow, thanks for extending the reach of my podcast and, as Martha Graham said, "no one put up a statue to a critic". Hey nonny no!
Posted by David Adams | March 18, 2008 6:20 PM
Posted on March 18, 2008 18:20
Oooop hand bags at 3 o'clock! Funny thing is one of the key issues with coaching is that definition remains an issue. David may not have produced a classic but at least he tried which is more than you can say for a lot of people in this field!
Posted by Scott McArthur | March 22, 2008 3:51 PM
Posted on March 22, 2008 15:51
According to a good friend of mine Paul Burrell who is very close to the royal family - He has a letter from Harry stating that in actual fact he was not in Aphganistan but on the Brecon Beacons in Wales - does this make the poem a work of fiction?
Posted by Disciple Neil | April 3, 2008 3:51 PM
Posted on April 3, 2008 15:51