The new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Leaving Upton Park’ by Ralph Dartford. Ralph is based in Yorkshire, and originally from Basildon in Essex. He is co-founder of the spoken word group A Firm of Poets with Matt Abbott, and recently curated Wakefield Lit Fest. He has previously worked for Arts Council England, and as manager at the Bloomsbury theatre in London. His first collection Cigarettes, Beer and Love was published in 2013. 

LEAVING UPTON PARK 

by Ralph Dartford 

Sometimes we’d win and we’d all go berserk.
But the bubbles have burst since we left Upton Park.
Hurst, Peters and Moore, an honest days work.
Sometimes we’d win and we’d all go berserk.

Sometimes we’d lose and we’d all rant and rave.
A tear up on the terraces, give the enemy a shave.
“West Ham until I die, until I’m in the grave.”
Sometimes we’d lose and we’d all rant and rave.

“But we’ll always have the moments”, said the Father to the son.
“Because this is where love was found, where the deal was done.”
“What, beaten claret and blue Dad, where the floodlights never shone?”
“But we’ll always have the moments”, said the Father to the son.