Namesake (IP) (1st & 6th February, 2009, 2.36pm, 6.58am)
Jennifer Pickup – Googled
I remember the ball
coming in like a meteorite,
right between the eyes,
on target,
nose smarting,
friends laughing...
Those were the days:
Netball beside the bomb pit,
before depth perception became
more than a revelation;
before that trip to the optician,
back when the headaches came
from straining to see
what the teacher had written
from my position
in the back row.
Thirteen years later,
She steals my identity
from an ocean away;
my namesake, that
American entity
I’ll never meet...
She’s a basketball star;
the catcher of meteorites
flung from afar;
light on her feet, moving
fast in the way that I can’t;
agile, dextrous and fleet.
What’s in a name?
She would laugh to see
me fling a snowball,
pitiful and short; but I
wonder if she could write
lines like these about me?
Comments
Ewan | February 6, 2009 - 08:16
Lovely, like the meteorite ball analogy and the way you come back to it.
No, I reckon she probably couldn't.
Ewan
luigi_pagano | February 6, 2009 - 10:46
It is fascinating to learn of the existence of a namesake. We wonder if we have anything in common but we don't know for sure. We create our own scenario because we cannot intrude in their private lives. Can she write lines like yours? Probably not but in our imaginary world she might be a first class poet, the mirror image of yourself.
Luigi xx
jennifer | February 6, 2009 - 14:36
Thank you, gentlemen! It is very strange to think of other people with our names going about their lives, isn't it? Quite creepy, really...
Which ancient religion believed that if you knew somebody's name, you had power over them?
J x
Biggus | February 6, 2009 - 15:50
Great write Jen,
I once met my namesake at Frankfurt airport in 1986, we both responded to the same page it was quite surreal.
Paul
anipani | February 6, 2009 - 18:48
Agile, dextrous and fleet , I would say you have those qualities on the page! A really good response to the inspiration point. I was toying, but didn't sort anything out! Got scared googling me, didn't want to lose myself in someone else's life, what if I liked hers more than mine!
Nathan Bednarek | February 7, 2009 - 18:13
Beautiful. I especially like the second-last stanza and the question at the end. This is a very atmospheric read. Well done.
Nathan.
threeleafshamrock | February 8, 2009 - 11:37
Excellence is this!
Chris X
Doeslittle | February 9, 2009 - 22:08
I think this is excellent - a very good take on the IP. (I can't find an exact namesake myself - the closest is a rather portly erotic model who looks like a Victorian porn star, I can't quite bring myself to attempt the IP at the moment). The only thing I wondered about this is whether you need the last stanza, it feels a bit obvious and self justifying when I don't think you need to be - it changes the resonance of the whole piece when I reach them though I can see that ending with the previous stanza would be a bit sharp. Perhaps it's just that I liked the idea you conjured up so well of finding a namesake who was good at something you weren't and the poignancy of that which is quashed with the last stanza. If that makes any sense...
jennifer | February 24, 2009 - 21:51
Yes, dammit, it does! My ego got in the way! Gah!
J x