I Watch the Line

A short poem about tennis (by me) for the start of Wimbledon...

I Watch the Line

I watch the line.
The thin strip of white
Between green and green,
In and out,
Champion and forgotten.

Not for my eyes the exquisite lob,
The soft-handed drop shot,
The searing ace.
My eyes seek only mistakes,
The wide and the long.
Everything else is merely 'in'.

Break point, match point,
Championship point -
All hold equal merit.
I don't take sides,
Or fear the rain.

While spectators, cameras
and the world watch the game,
I watch the line.





Matt Hutchinson - June 2012

Great writing advice from Richard Ford

OK, it's not actually from him as such (the words come from a character in his new novel Canada) but they might as well.

Not to hunt too hard for hidden or opposite meanings but to look as much as possible straight at the things you can see in broad daylight.

Sage advice, whoever it comes from