When tennis meets poetry

Ilia Uy is currently a Media Studies (Film) graduate student at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. Tennis is her third love, after Christ and reading/writing.

Who would’ve thought that hitting a yellow ball within an “imaginary” box had anything to do with writing? I may have written about the connection I saw personally as a writer and a tennis fan on this blog before but this year’s Wimbledon solidified that unlikely bond by hiring a poet to write all throughout the tournament. Matt Harvey, a performance poet, holds a very official sounding job for a fortnight: Official Poet in Residence for the 2010 Championships.

I can’t think of any other tournament who would be as brazen as to assume that its tennis-loving audience would be interested in reading (and hearing) poetry for two weeks. (And what do you know — tennis fans are poets too! Some have submitted their own poems to the site.) But then again, this is the Grand Slam that still demands the players to wear “predominantly white” outfits.

It makes sense, actually. Wimbledon, arguably the Mecca of tennis, holds tight to traditions and still exhibits that elitist air that tennis as as sport has always been accused of.  It was the last of the Grand Slams to agree to equal pay for both men and women players — and to this day, Wimbledon often schedules just one women’s match and two men’s match on Centre Court. It is also during Wimbledon that spectators expect to see more of the “dying” art of serving and volleying. Wimbledon’s on-court snack and beverage? Pimm’s and champagne with strawberries and cream.

In the same way, poetry has been historically regarded as the highest form of literature. (Granted, there have been movements to lower poetry from its pedestal and strip it of its “snobbery.”) It’s a craft that demands more discipline, expects a more profound sensibility, and feeds more on the writer’s spirit and emotions. It has been studied that poets, more than any other kind of writers, die earlier.

It isn’t really that surprising a move for Wimbledon to make poetry a part of the tournament. And whatever the reason for its inclusion and no matter if it implies how traditional (to a fault) Wimbledon is, I am happy that two of my loves occupy the same space at least for two weeks. I mean, this definitely beats the vuvuzuela (which, by the way, Wimbledon banned. Haha!).

Having read some of the poems that Matt Harvey has written, his background as a performance poet is evident. His poems are very musical and rhythmic — you can almost hear it being read live. Oh, but you can hear it live: here’s one of his Wimbledon poems, entitled “Twok.” I am amazed by the fact that he can come up and produce poems daily. I could never deal with a deadline like that. Props to you, Mr. Harvey!

Anyway, I’ll let you enjoy his poetry for yourself. Go here and read up. To further entice you to click on the link, below is a sample of his work, an excerpt from “Mrs. K With Strawberries“

and he’s taking my picture just typical me
with my ordinary strawberries
and ordinary cream
are they nice? Yes they are, they’re ever
so nice
and no, actually, I didn’t notice the price
(gulp)
what do they taste of? hmmm, let me see,
they taste of, well …strawberries
predominantly

 

*P.S. This post has a lot of links. Just in case you didn’t notice as the change of color in the font is not that obvious.

 

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