The title is FOOTBALL which basically is what the person in this poem is playing.
The character is also a quarterback and for those who don’t know what a quarterback he’s basically the person who has the football and creates plays for the team to score. So a play maker.
Literal meaning
The quarter back receieves the ball and he’s faking while someone holds off the opposition for him to find a wide receiver to score a touchdown. While he’s making a decision on what his next play shold be he realizes that his decision in a game relates to the decisions he makes off the field.
After this, he concludes that the receiver downfield isn’t in a good position hence he doesn’t give him the ball thus finding another option.
Structure
This poem is also 1 big chunk. It might be maybe because the poem describes just 1 second of a football game, everything is going so fast that the author crammed everything together to show the speed of the game.
The part in the poem where the character links football and life together is like a journey through an individuals mind. He realizes that decision making on the football field is quite similar to his decisions off it.
Lines that jump out in this poem starts from “I realize that this is a world where anything is possible and I understand, also, that one often has to make do with what one has. I have eaten pancakes, for instance, with that clear corn syrup on them because there was no maple syrup and they weren’t very good.” These few lines show that the quarterback is comparing his current situation to times in his life where he has to make a compromise. In this case he has to make a compromise to get tackled to play it safe instead of risking the ball being intercepted and losing possession.
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