Bob Costas’ pink eye got a poem of its own.

Perhaps you think that the amazing feats of Winter Olympians—the ski jumpers, figure skaters and bobsledders—are poetry in motion. Kwame Dawes would agree with you. At the Speakeasy blog of the Wall Street Journal, the poet is posting a series of poems that “capture the spirit of the day’s actions.” He’s written six poems so far. A sampling, below.

Poems for the Jamaican Bobsled Team

COFFIN RIDERS

we won’t talk about the genius

of bravery, the calculus

of resourcefulness that

teaches men to undo the hunger

for life, but instead to leap

as one into the belly of their death

and speed breakneck

towards the end of all wisdom—

 

The Gay Olympian’s Dilemma at Sochi

THE GAY OLYMPIAN CONSIDERS AN ARGUMENT AT A FRIENDS AND FAMILY GATHERING BEFORE LEAVING FOR SOCHI

Because you fear the silence that will consume

everything dear and true to you;

the silence you have long plumbed

in those moments of pure delicious

dread at the top of your mark, waiting

for the sound that tells you to begin.

 

 Michael Christian Martinez: The Wounded Dancer

THE WOUNDED DANCER

For skater Michael Christian Martinez of the Philippines

We skaters arrive wounded, limping, the aches—

beneath the skin you will see the terrible

brutality of what we must do to our bodies.

 

Bob Costas’ Pink Eye and Sochi’s Brown Water

SLOP BUCKET

Costas’ eyes have stayed pink, the jokes

too easy since pinko is old as eras are old

and Putin’s pink is the color of his steak

 

You can find all of the complete poems at the Wall Street Journal.