What would the NFL look like
if Archie Manning wrote poetry?
Would the world have been deprived
of the athletic talents of Payton and Eli?
Would records not have been broken,
and Super Bowl not have been won?
But think of the upside!
Poetry would have been enhanced;
conceivably the genre of sports poetry
would have been enlarged and celebrated.
Instead of a first down,
there would have been a first stanza.
Instead of a running play,
there would have been a run of iams,
Instead of a touchdown,
there would have been a completed ode.
So, for now, leave Archie alone.
Let him sit on his front porch
in Mississippi so he can write his poems.
Maybe his sons will pick up his skills and
write a Hail Mary of a poem on their own.
THE POETRY OF THE GAME