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Poetry. I don't read much poetry I have to admit, but sometimes I make an exception. Spaan's poetry is mainly about football. It might seem I'm obsessed by that game, but in this case, that has nothing to do with it. Fact is his poems are really good. He started doing poems dedicated to football players in a television show years ago on the Dutch television. He usually invited the player to stand in front of him, when he read his poem from the background. It is difficult to describe those poems, but they were always accurate. He always found a right observation, a stunning comparison or a brilliant euphemism. Those poems were published in a book 'Son of Cruijff'. The poem that gave name to that book compared the son of Cruijff to the son of Rembrandt. How can a son of a genius still have a life?
This book, 'Maldini heeft een zus' (Maldini has a sister) has some more poems on players. And they are accurate again. I know at least one of my LJ-friends is a big Maldini fan, so I'll try and translate the first one from this book in English, something that is fairly risky, as poetry is, in my opinion, extremely difficult to translate.
Maldini has a sister
Paolo Maldini World championships '94
On 24-6-1990
In the press tent of
Italia Novanta Milan
I saw her
Name tag on her right chest
Hostess for Coca Cola
A mouth made to be kissed
In full glory
Maldini had a sister
Maldini's little sister
One eighty five tall
Red skirt just above her knee
The black hair and blue eyes
I didn't know where to watch
That mouth, a touch of irony
One of these women who carelessly
Destroys the life of a man
So if Paolo puts down the ball
In the final in Paris
To take the fifth penalty kick
- Ronaldo just missed -
The whole of Italy prays to Maria, Jesus Christ
The only thing I will be thinking at that moment
O Paolo
How is your sister doing?
This book, 'Maldini heeft een zus' (Maldini has a sister) has some more poems on players. And they are accurate again. I know at least one of my LJ-friends is a big Maldini fan, so I'll try and translate the first one from this book in English, something that is fairly risky, as poetry is, in my opinion, extremely difficult to translate.
Maldini has a sister
Paolo Maldini World championships '94
On 24-6-1990
In the press tent of
Italia Novanta Milan
I saw her
Name tag on her right chest
Hostess for Coca Cola
A mouth made to be kissed
In full glory
Maldini had a sister
Maldini's little sister
One eighty five tall
Red skirt just above her knee
The black hair and blue eyes
I didn't know where to watch
That mouth, a touch of irony
One of these women who carelessly
Destroys the life of a man
So if Paolo puts down the ball
In the final in Paris
To take the fifth penalty kick
- Ronaldo just missed -
The whole of Italy prays to Maria, Jesus Christ
The only thing I will be thinking at that moment
O Paolo
How is your sister doing?
