Vistas & Byways Review - Fall 2020
  • Contents
    • In This Issue
    • Fiction
    • Nonfiction
    • Poetry
    • Bay Area Neighborhoods
    • Inside OLLI
  • About Us
  • Contributors
  • Submissions
  • Archive
    • Spring 2020
    • FALL 2019
    • SPRING 2019
    • Fall 2018
    • SPRING 2018
    • FALL 2017
    • FALL 2016
    • SPRING 2016
    • FALL 2015

​POETRY  - 
  with a focus on the Pandemic

A Field of Play     -     Weebly.com                                           ​

Delayed Replay
​by Thomas O. Davenport

When Coronavirus Turns Every Sports Channel into ESPN Classic—Replays of games that already happened.
New York Times, March 16, 2020
 
I sit here sequestered, the virus still raging
Outside—so I’m inside, ensconced, disengaging
From prior life as I once thought that I knew it
No contact, for experts say I must eschew it
 
So I turn for solace to my TV screen
Just staring at games that I’ve already seen
At tourneys and matches and contests of yore 
They all look familiar—I’ve seen them before
 
There’s football and basketball, hockey and tennis
To keep us inside and away from the menace
Despite channel flipping, I find nothing new
It’s all just an exercise in déjà vu
 
So on goes my team cap and team jersey too
Though no player sees me, what else can I do?
I yell at the screen and I curse and I cheer
The only thing missing is someone to hear
 
The putts that spun out will still swerve and not fall
And field goals still miss by the width of the ball
Three-pointers beat buzzers, as they did before
Disputed third strikes are strikeouts evermore
 
No one knows how long this pandemic may last
Or how many months we’ll be stuck in the past
Just biding our time until we’re all deranged
Re-watching sports contests where nothing will change
 
If I’m to be stuck here, by boredom beset
I wish I could redress just one small regret
The next time a virus hits, I won’t forget
To make sure I have a full-wall TV set​

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Thomas O. Davenport is an independent writer and business advisor living in San Francisco. He spent 32 years as a human resource consultant for a global consulting organization. He has written three business books and many serious articles and now writes sardonic verse, much of it commenting on business practices he observed (and helped create) and on social phenomena that amuse and bemuse him. In addition to Visas & Byways, his work has appeared in Defenestration, WORK Literary Magazine, Workers Write! and in the anthology Love Affairs at the Villa Nelle (Kelsay Books, 2019). You can also read his writings (verse and other) at www.worklodes.com.     
Vertical Divider
    WE WELCOME COMMENTS
Submit Comment

​Return to the Table of Contents

IN THIS ISSUE

BAY AREA NEIGHBORHOODS

FICTION

INSIDE OLLI

NONFICTION

POETRY

Picture
Vistas & Byways Review is the semiannual journal of fiction, nonfiction and poetry by members of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at San Francisco State University​.​
Vertical Divider
Picture
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at San Francisco State University (OLLI at SF State) provides communal and material support to theVistas & Byways  volunteer staff.

ABOUT US

CONTRIBUTORS

SUBMISSIONS

JOIN OUR TEAM

Contact the V&B
  • Contents
    • In This Issue
    • Fiction
    • Nonfiction
    • Poetry
    • Bay Area Neighborhoods
    • Inside OLLI
  • About Us
  • Contributors
  • Submissions
  • Archive
    • Spring 2020
    • FALL 2019
    • SPRING 2019
    • Fall 2018
    • SPRING 2018
    • FALL 2017
    • FALL 2016
    • SPRING 2016
    • FALL 2015