Summoned by Balls. by Christopher Matthew

by Christopher Matthew

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0719568196
• ISBN13: 9780719568190
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: John Murray Publishers
• Length: 111 Pages

Customer Reviews

Hilarious golfing poetry

The poems in this book are mainly described as being after some published poem or song. This means that the author wrote completely new lyrics to the rhythm of the original poem or song. On first reading, I particularly enjoyed the poems that were based on songs that I was familiar with, such as Club grab, based on My favorite things, and Excuses excuses, based on The lady is a tramp. Clearly the author is a huge fan of John Betjeman, as he not only based several of his poems on John's poems, but also adapted the title of one of John's books, Summoned by bells, for use as the title of this book. Of course, it didn't do John's legacy any harm at all. Indeed, I was intrigued enough to buy John's collected works after reading Christopher's poetry. I figured that if a bought a book of selected poems, it might not contain all the poems that Christopher adapted. Actually, I was becoming interested in John's poetry anyway for other reasons and this book made it even more desirable. Having read the originals, the golfing versions seemed that little bit funnier than they were anyway. That said, I won't be working through all the poetic authors whose work Christopher has adapted, although I expect I will buy more eventually. The most famous poem here is If, the Rudyard Kipling classic. Christopher's version about a hopeless golfer is titled However. One of the few poems here that is not based on another poet's work, titled Clerihews, manages to rhyme Colin Montgomerie with lifetime of flummery, which is a bit cruel even if it is a clever rhyme. This book is a hilarious look at the golfing life, both in the clubhouse and on the course. It helps if you know some of the original poems but it is certainly not essential. Similarly, you don't need to be a golfing expert to enjoy this book. Hey, I only played one round of golf ever, so badly that I never tried again although I won my match because my opponent, also making his golfing debut, was even worse.