I was watching a show about Eric the Red, and Leif Ericcson...the show made mention of the various sports participated in, such as running, jumping, swordplay, and poetry !

I found the attached link...and would be interested to hear everyone's thoughts.


[web.sdstate.edu] />

not literally a sport...no score kept or finish line or time limit.

Here's one of my favorites ABOUT the sport of baseball.


Poised between going on and back, pulled
Both ways taut like a tightrope-walker,
Fingertips pointing the opposites,
Now bouncing tiptoe like a dropped ball
Or a kid skipping rope, come on, come on,
Running a scattering of steps sidewise,
How he teeters, skitters, tingles, teases,
Taunts them, hovers like an ecstatic bird,
He's only flirting, crowd him, crowd him,
Delicate, delicate, delicate, delicate - now!

The Base Stealer by Robert Francis ©

agree to no score or finsih line or time limit.......how about saying it's an athletic activity then ?

nope...Where's the strong, skillful physical ability?

the strength of vocabulary and the skill to use this strength ?

Will the Olympics need to start testing for absinthe now?

pam

Interesting point, Pam

I recall a previous thread where the point was made that any drug did not create talent where none existed.....if i shot up heroin right now, i wouldnt be able to play the electric guitar.

But as far as performance-ENHANCING, hmmmmmm...

The show (not the link) stated that it was important for a Viking to be able to show prowess in swimming, jumping, fighting and poetry creating and reciting.

Not necessarily a COMPETITION.....so no banned substances from the IPC

I guess, Johnny, what I would like to think about for poetry to for games is play itself. The Greeks held competitions in which people like Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes and Aeschylus would come up with first prize year after year. They put the play of spirit into daily life. Pindar wrote Odes to be performed at Competitions of Athletes. More importantly, Heraclites said the world is in play (like a ball), and we arise from its play....this all leads to a seven year old boy sitting in the bleachers at Fenway Park watching the play of the ball from one player to another, the warm-up activities, two pitchers in the bullpen, the chatter, the fly ball, the running, shouting, waving bananas, spilling cokes, the blimp over head, the announcer's voice...in other words, the poetry of the games, unfolding in all its eccentricity and unpredictable predictability...and did you come to play, on the sand lot, or are you just gonna watch? If poetry is a sport, sport may also be poetry.

What about Klingon love poetry as a test of a warrior's strength?
Doe that count at athletic prowess?

Thank you Peter for mentioning Klingon Love Poetry, I had thought of using such as an example but hesitated....it was a fine illustration of what I was trying to convey, being able to produce and recite poetry as part of being a well rounded warrior.

and thanks for the Fenway memory......walking down comm ave....past planet records and hoffmans florist....wonderful sunny summer day with the mixture of smells and sounds....eyes being struck by the first flash of that monster green......nice

peternsz wrote:

If poetry is a sport,
sport may also be poetry.

Especially limerick competitions.

pam

Read Rostand's CYRANO DE BERGERAC -- especially the scene where Cyrano out-verses Christian (when they first meet) and the one where he fences and improvises poetry at the same time.

Also ref POETRY SLAM events, which are competitive.

But is it a sport?

I'm inclined to go with George Carlin on this one. Referring to competitive chess and such, he said: "Trust me, it's not a sport unless you can get dirty doing it." He made an exception for darts, "because of the potential for injury."

As to the possibility of poetry olympics: I think there should be drug-enhanced events and non-drug-enhanced events; speed events (cp. races) and quantity events (cp. long-jump).

And listen to Eddie Izzard's CIRCUS cd for his vision of the "stoned Olympics," which focuses on how hard it is to accomplish anything--let alone an athletic feat--while high as a kite. His "stoned Olympics" ends with the marathon, in which all the athletes convene in the stadium, run out of the stadium, and are never seen or heard from again.

Can Mahamud Ali "Sting like a bee"?-- sports poetry at its championessness!

The recent production of "The Frogs" had a competition between GB Shaw and W Shakespeare...they'd each speak on the particular topic and then go back to their corner.....great fun !

There was a show on the BBC a few years back 'Hamish Macbeth'.
VERY quirky. In one episode the residents of this mythical Scottish town participated in the equivalent of 'Celtic Olyimpics'. The events included your typical kaber toss, stone lifting, and such. They also had judged events where people representing each town would participate in story telling, poetry, and singing.
I can't even find reruns of it anymore (the show, not the Celtic Olympics).


Jack

[www.imdb.com] />
Looks to be available on VHS in the UK...look to the right

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