Liverpool poet Dave Kirby
has brought out a new collection of verse dedicated to our club. His last
published work was a project he co-wrote with Nicky Allt called "Kop Stories".
This was a huge success, completely selling out and helping out both Zoë's
Place and the Hillsborough Justice Campaign thanks to their kind offer to
donate all proceeds in that direction.
Dave has since become a well-liked member of the
after-dinner circuit and as a result has written enough new material for the
new book, called "Football Culture".
As Dave says on his website – http://www.footballculture.co.uk/ –
the words "poet", "poetry" and "poems" scare most supporters off – until they
actually hear the work. Dave says: "For me one of the best parts of doing an
LFC night is seeing the horrified expressions on the faces of a footy audience
when the M.C. announces that there's a poet coming on. Honest…it's as though
they've just been told that Gary Neville is the guest speaker."
Dave says he sympathises with those who fill with dread,
because "over the years academics have hijacked poetry and taken it over the
hills and far away until eventually it disappeared up its own orifice."
He says that this is unfortunate: "Like any other form of
writing, poetry can work for anyone if it tells them about their own lives or
gives them something that they can identify with or relate to."
We've all looked back at old clips of matches, or photos taken
of celebrations, and felt that tingling sensation as we are taken back to that
sweet moment, and Dave says his poems do much the same thing: "I use it solely
as a means of communication; capturing an emotion, a moment in time or an
observation and then sharing it in a voice that people can understand."
And those horrified faces he sees as he's introduced are
usually converted by the end of his after-dinner turn: "At most LFC nights people
always ask me the same question: ‘Where can we get your stuff?' That's why I had to get this
book sorted."
You can order the book through Dave's site using PayPal, it
costs just £4.99 + £2.50 p&p. Alternatively you can pick a copy up in
person at either the HJC shop on Walton Breck Road or at Bookworm on Telegraph
Way in Kirkby.
Donations are being made from the proceeds to both the HJC
and to Zoë's Place, so as well as being a bit of culture to add to your
collection of LFC memorabilia it's a project that's helping good causes.
Some of the titles of the pieces in the book:
Football Culture
The Old Boy's Pen
Platform 9
Jester's Hats
One Night In May
The Pilgrimage
The Storm
A Tale Of Two Kensingtons
Dispute That One Mourinho
A Lad From Huyton
The Justice Bell
Impunity For The Guilty
Beckham's Foot
An Innocent Lad
A Kopite's CV