G. Michael Vasey's Blog: The Wacky World of Dr. Vasey, page 86

Of FA Cup Finals, Hull and Yorkshire

This last weekend, I and a good percentage of my fellow East Yorkshire compadres (not all as Rugby is still big in Hull and Hull KR played Hull FC that same day!) were either sat in the London sun at Wembley or, like me, huddled in front of the biggest TV we could find. Of course, none of us really entertained the idea that we could actually win the FA Cup but we all brimmed with pride and awe at the occasion none the less. But you also knew, as underdogs, we had nothing at all to lose and there is always the chance, no matter how slim, that on the day and for 90 minutes, Hull City could be the better team. Of course, 10 minutes after kick off and the score Hull City 2 Arsenal 0, we perhaps did allow ourselves a moment or two to dream that maybe it was going to be the underdog’s day and that Curtis Davies would lift that cup for the long suffering fans of Hull City. In the end, it wasn’t to be, but the overwhelming sense of pride at having made Arsenal and their fans suffer and work for their reward made it all worthwhile. In fact, now we have a taste for such occasions, we want more!

Of course, when you play a team like Arsenal you are playing a global brand. People who have never been to Arsenal support that club all around the world and they expect success. Arsenal have a history and a pedigree. They have one player valued at two times our entire squad. It’s easy to support a team like Arsenal.

But, I have to say, I would have liked to see more media coverage of the underdog. Hull’s story is a much better one than Arsenals. Its easy to be an Arsenal fan with expectations of Premier League football, Europe and silverware year in and year out so it must be tough to go 9 years without a trophy. Arsenal fans everywhere have my sympathy. I full well understand how 9-years is an eternity to wait. You see, Hull City was founded 110-years ago and we have never won anything. After Saturday’s glorious defeat, we have still never won anything. There are loyal Hull City fans, born and bred in Hull, who have been born and died without ever seeing Hull City win anything. These are real fans.

To be honest, the media could have done a better job. A decade ago, Hull City were in the bottom tier of English football. Almost went out of business a couple of times. The club has gone from bottom to top in a short period of time and we all of course hope that over the next few years, it will stay there and that we will win something soon. But thats the difference between us and Arsenal fans. They get all weird over not winning a trophy in 9-years, we just support our team through thick and thin – mostly thin times. There are some truly great stories that they could have done a better job of picking up on.

In fact, having travelled a lot in my life I can say that there is something about being from Yorkshire and Hull – in that order. Hull has always been somehow cut off from everything by virtue of its geographic position. The huge muddy estuary of the Humber to the south, the boulder clay cliffs of the east coast leave only the north and west accessible. Hull has always been a sort of maverick place willing to assert itself whether that was the Icelandic cod war or the English civil war! Hull has historically been a backwater cut off from the south albeit an important backwater as a result of its port and access to the ocean. Being essentially cut off and isolated is in the psyche of its inhabitants too. We are unafraid, down to earth and unimpressed with attitudes. We get on with it, make the best of it and know how to enjoy ourselves. There is an element of Yorkshire spirit too in there but with a definite Hull edge. We are like our team – resolute, spirited and uncomplaining taking little or no notice of what others might think or say – after all, the vast majority of them have never been to Hull!

So, quite honestly I feel sorry for Arsenal fans having to wait 9-years to win something. They plainly don’t have the stomach for the long haul or for adversity that comes with being born north of Watford and especially in a little City called Kingston upon the River Hull.

Hull City Honours – from Wikipedia.

Football League Championship and predecessors (level 2 of the English football league system)

Runners-up: 2012–13

Play-off winners: 2007–08

Football League One and predecessors (level 3 of the English football league system)

Champions: 1965–66

Runners-up: 1958–59, 2004–05

Promoted: 1984–85

Football League Two and predecessors (level 4 of the English football league system)

Runners-up: 1982–83, 2003–04

Football League Third Division North

Champions: 1932–33, 1948–49

FA Cup

Runners-up: 2014

Semi-finalists: 1930

Football League Trophy

Runners-up: 1984

Watney Cup

Runners-up: 1974

Tagged: dreaming, fa cup, Failure and success, Hull, Hull city

Blackfield and Moon Whispers

I have enjoyed the music of Steven wilson (Porcupine Tree) for many years now and have all four albums from Blackfield, a project in which Steven wilson partnered with Aviv Geffen to create some of the most melodic and listenable music I heave ever heard. Tunes like Pain and Where is my love? have haunted me for years. Recently, however, I got a hold of Blackfield II and this is almost heaven. The songs 1000 People and The End of the World are incredible and send me to aural heaven immediately. About 3 months ago I started listening to this record over and over again finding that each time I did I had to write. 1000 People in particular seems to make my creative juices spurt in vast quantities and every single poem in my new collection – Moon whispers – was written in a semi-meditative state listening to this song and this album.

Here is the song – 1000 People. Give it a listen. Close your eyes and drift.

Later, go to Amazon and purchase Moon Whispers and as you read those words listen to this song……

Tagged: Blackfield, Moon whispers, Poetry

Eternally Divine

Winding, twisting and turning

Deeply rebellious instincts

Having fun just fondling eternity

And loving in the falling rains

Indigenous, erogenous foolery

Deeply chicane wanderings

Rapidly switching between life’s lanes

Screeching tire sounds proclaim

The haste we feel to arrive

Travelling but really getting nowhere

But hoping all the same

Does it really matter that much?

Are we aiming straight and true?

Or are our nice words so much double Dutch?

Uttered with a wasted breath

Am I better off drifting on through

Looking, watching and perhaps learning

Reaching for the eternally divine

Ignoring the passing of time.

 

Image: Where Heavens Meet – Freydoon Rassouli

We Dared to Dream

Yesterday, we dared to dream

Hoped to mark our spot in history

Engraved our name in time

Yesterday, we came out strong

A shock really did look on

It’s been more than a century

Players have come and gone

I even went to school with one

Yesterday, we dared to dream

And what a long wait it’s been

The Tigers’ shone yesterday

Just like that other rhyme

Burning brightly under London skies

And 10 minutes after kick off

It looked as if we may pull it off

In the end it wasn’t to be

But the Tigers marked

Their place in history

Written indelibly

We dared to dream!

Tagged: fa cup, Failure and success

Once a Century or so

It was a very big day yesterday. After 110 years, Hull City played in the FA Cup final for the first time. Its still incredible to me that The Tigers are in the Premier League and an FA Cup was simply the icing on an already desirable cake.

I was pretty nervous. Arsenal are a team whose squad is worth many many more times that of Hull City. They are a big club and they play good football. Classy even. I had in the back of my mind a 3-0 or 4-0 drubbing to be honest particularly since Hull City hadn’t played so well the last few weeks. In the two games against Arsenal, we lost 5-0 on aggregate in the league. Imagine my surprise when within 8 minutes of kick off Hull City were winning 2-0! I was shaking so much I had to go and get a whiskey….. more of that later.

I knew if we could score 1 more goal it was probably our game. Two is not enough. Within 15 minutes, we almost did score that third as Alex Bruce had his header cleared off the goal line. I think it was at that moment that I knew how the game would turn out and sure enough, Arsenal scored shortly after. It was then only a matter of time and to hold on until penalties was probably the best we could hope for. In the end, you could see how tired the players were and you just knew arsenal would score before the end of OT.

I guess the best way to look at it is we drew 2-2 and lost in OT. I am proud of the team and proud to be from Hull.

By the time the game was over though I had polished off a half bottle of whiskey! I had no idea as the game went on I suppose I was drinking without thinking…..

I have a very sore head today.

My only issue with the whole thing is that Arsenal have some truly obnoxious followers. I don’t know why. Big club, successful, history, money – they have everything Arsenal. But some of their fans are ungracious and I put it mildly. Rabid people, ungracious in victory and defeat. Not all of them I will say but I can think of no other team whose supporters are so bad and I hope Hull City fans never get that way.

However, I’m not going to let some silly Arsenal fans spoil my day – the whiskey did that for me already…..

Moon Whispers Debuts as Fourth Poetry Collection from Author Dr. G. Michael Vasey

Brno, Czech Republic, May 17th, 2014. Moon whispers, a new collection of 30 poems from Dr. G. Michael Vasey, is released and is now available on Amazon and other book sites in paperback and Kindle formats. Moon whispers is the fourth poetry collection by this critically acclaimed author.

“This continually fascinating and ever-maturing writer has succeeded in assembling a cornucopia of new ideas, visions, and comments on his personal universe and the world ‘out there’,” said fellow author Gordon Strong. “Besides his poetry collections, Vasey’s other forays into authorship, ‘The Mystical Hexagram’ and his splendid novel ‘The Last Observer’ shows a varied dimension of thought and an endless imagination.”

Vasey was also recently featured in Chat Its Fate magazine (June 2014 issue) in an article featuring his early life experiences and promoting his novel – The Last Observer (Roundfire, 2013).

Hull-born Vasey writes extensively across a number of disparate areas in which he has a passionate interest. He is the author of over 300 articles and several books in the energy & Commodities industry, three books of poetry, and several books about magic and our ability to shape reality. He spent 18-years in Houston, TX and now lives in Brno in the Czech Republic, but is British by birth.

He is currently working on The Lord of the Elements – the prequel to The Last Observer – and another on the concept of the Fool in magic.

He tweets at @gmvasey.

Tagged: Moon whispers, Poetry

Review of the forthcoming Moon Whispers by Gordon Strong

Many thanks to Gordon Strong for taking the time to do a pre-release review of Moon whispers – available next week…

Moon Whispers ~ A new poetry collection by Dr. G. Michael Vasey

‘Moon Whispers – A new poetry collection’ is the fourth outing into the world of lyric and melody by Michael Vasey. This continually fascinating and ever-maturing writer has succeeded in assembling a cornucopia of new ideas, visions, and comments on his personal universe and the world ‘out there’.

A title like ‘Julia Robert’s Smile’ is typical of the poet’s wry humour. These lines from another piece neatly combine word play and a satirical edge.

Bit by bit

Revelations

Byte by byte

Animations

The combination of the classic and the contemporary is never far away. A line like ‘Forged in ancient fire’ manages to sit quite comfortably with this pair in another poem seen later in the collection.

Houston, I heard you calling

Or am I confusing you with the Clash?

The piece entitled ‘All at sea’ shows Vasey’s optimism is never far away, though he often questions whether he always possesses that quality himself. The depth of his feelings combined with an acute intelligence have, however, produced the joyous lines,

Following a golden sunbeam

Tumbling through life’s dream

Besides his poetry collections, Vasey’s other forays into authorship, a recognised authority on occult matters – ‘The Mystical Hexagram’ – and his splendid novel ‘The Last Observer’ shows a varied dimension of thought and an endless imagination.

Gordon Strong

May 14th. 2014

Tagged: Moon whispers

Chat – Its Fate

One benefit of having a publisher is they do manage to get publicity you may not have been able to get yourself. In this case, the story published is honestly inaccurate and very sensationalized. The stories are loosely based on those I talked about in Inner Journeys: Explorations of the Soul (Thoth, 2006) but you know what, it has close to a 100,000 circulation and who knows…. maybe it will help sell a few books and add a few blog visits. There I am holding a copy of my novel – The Last Observer (Roundfire Books, 2013) in the lower right hand of the article. amazingly, what I was actually holding in that photo was a beer but I guess they photoshopped it…

Tagged: Books, Childhood memories, Magazines

Moon whispers – Coming Very Soon

My fourth collection of poetry – and I think my best (but then I would wouldn’t I?) is days away from publication. Here is what it looks like…..

It will shortly be available from all Amazon sites and more in paperback form. I will probably also do a kindle version but I find issues with formatting poetry in kindle so it may appear a few days later.

Meanwhile, here is what Dielle Ciesco, author of The Unknown Mother: A Magical Walk with the Goddess of Sound and Your True Voice: Tools for Embracing a Fully Expressed Life has to say about the collection…

G. Michael Vasey understands the power of the word. In Moon Whispers, he takes obvious care not to convolute a simple message, exercising an economy of words when it is due, to reveal clean, crisp vignettes of his inner landscape. From tantalizing homages to food in “50 Shades of Food” to life’s more existential questions, as in “Touching Emptiness” and the quote inspired “So What Am I?”, readers will be more appreciative of each of their senses and yet wondering what lies beyond what they perceive with them.

Best Plans

Entrenched

Rain falls

We are drenched

Please take note

Next time

Bring your raincoat

Inside me

Rain falls

Puddles building silently

Can it be

You know

Something that you can see

Clouds bursting

Water flows

Something is hurting

In Reality

Things don’t

Always go to plan

hands in the rain. Photo credit: http://www.afewofmyfavorites.com