Kneel

Kneel

by David Punter

[for Colin Kaepernick]

Not simple, this kneeling business;

It’s all very well to say it disrespects the flag,

Or it represents a history of black subservience,

Or that somewhere in there is a religious gesture

(But one knee, not two, not exactly a prayer),

Or looking on ahead, how many of these

Grand, huge players will contract

Arthritis and, when the time comes,

Never kneel again?

For me, the question is what will we kneel for?

Not to nod in obeisance,

Or demonstrate the athletic skill required

In yoga, where self-mastery is all,

Or bare our backs against the inevitable whip,

Or worship God Almighty

Who seems so pitifully out of tune

With our present pressing needs,

Swathed bodies, babies carried out of hope.

Never to kneel, never to show contrition

Is bad for the soul, I don’t doubt that,

As is the destruction of the self before false icons,

And we must never succumb

To that other myth, that straight-backed

We can stand stiff before all life’s discomforts,

The way of empire, always upright,

Toujours gai – twirl the moustache,

Call for another sundowner.

What would I kneel for?

I’ve not knelt in years, not willingly,

Or even half-effectively.

But still I have a sense

That these vastly overpaid

Footballers, inclining their trained bodies,

Renouncing some measure of approbation

They’ve realised they deeply

Do not desire, are more worthy of my kneeling

Than their masters in so-called Christendom.

Caroline Shaw - Ceiling Stories, 2019