Vol. 3, No. 1: Rainbow Curve photo

Old Boys’ RugbyJack B. Bedell

No matter how your knees ache,

or how many times the forwards

 

have told you to keep it

tight, there’s always that moment

 

every game when the pass hits your hands

and your eyes find yards and yards

 

of space behind the other team’s pack

and the breeze is right there with you

 

pushing everything down the pitch

and begging you, just one more time,

 

to kick the ball towards all that open grass

and chase it like life’s still a downhill game.

Jack B. Bedell is Professor of English and Coordinator of Creative Writing at Southeastern Louisiana University where he also edits Louisiana Literature and directs the Louisiana Literature Press. Jack’s work has appeared in HAD, Heavy Feather, Pidgeonholes, The Shore, Moist, Okay Donkey, EcoTheo, The Hopper, Terrain, and other journals. He has also had work included in Best Microfiction and Best Spiritual Literature. His latest collection is Against the Woods’ Dark Trunks (Mercer University Press, 2022). He served as Louisiana Poet Laureate 2017-2019.