tennis

The Tennis Player’s Prayer

Our Federer, which art in Henman,
Lew Hoad be thy name;
Billie Jean Kingdom come;
thy Wimbledon,
in earth as it is in Henman.
Give us this day our Perry, Fred.
And forgive us our Samprasses,
as we forgive them that Sampras against us.
And Lloyd us not into tense tie-breaks;
but Rod Laver us from Ivanisevic.
For Billie Jean is the Kingdom,
Evonne Goolagong and the Cawley,
for Evert and Evert.
Amen.

New Year’s Eve, 2014

“Typical,” thought Penny
as she watched Gavin party like it was 1999.

He was wearing a Pokemon t-shirt
and bouncing up and down to a Britney Spears song.
At least he no longer seemed to be worrying
about the millennium bug.

“Always fifteen years behind everyone else”, she sighed,
relieved that he’d left his micro-scooter outside.

out of deuce

 we                       would

 go                        to

   Wimbledon                       and

    watch                       Serena

       and                       Venus

      until                       that

   fateful                       sunny

        day                      when

 Annette                       came

between                       us