Connor Mitts wins Library contest with poem “The Biggest Fan”

by
Connor Mitts won the Open Category for the theme Golazo! with his poem "The Biggest Fan"
 
Bio statement: I was born and raised in Johnson County, Kansas. After 12 years of adventure in Colorado I've returned home with my wife and two children. I'm currently a stay at home dad who tries to stay busy in his church and local park communities.
 

Our Golazo! theme focused on the upcoming World Cup in Kansas City.

 
Goal! Gol! Tor! Golazo!
 
The World Cup is coming to Kansas City in summer 2026, and something about it stirs something in you. A memory. A longing. A wild, impossible hope. Maybe it’s the roar of the crowd echoing through streets you know by heart. Maybe it’s the way a single Golazo!—a goal so stunning, so perfect, that it feels like the world has stopped turning—can crack open a moment and let something new in.
 
Write from that place. Let it be a poem, a journal entry, a letter, a story told in fragments. You might be a player or a fan, a neighbor watching from your porch, or someone who hasn’t kicked a ball in years. Is your perfect shot to finally start that business, publish your masterpiece or join that recreation league you’ve been thinking about? Who are you when everything feels possible, even just for a second? What does your Golazo!—your breathtaking, against-the-odds moment—look like?
 

The Biggest Fan

I'm sure the baby,
Of only 6 months,

Intently scanning the browning pitch
For his brother,
The only recognizable face among the swirling, chaotic sea
Of reds and blues

Is puzzled at being jostled in others’ excitement
At this silly game
And the fuzzy figures,
Kicking a silly ball without discernible purpose

In this moment he spots his brother
Sprinting, with discernible purpose
Through the crowd and the seasonally cool morning air
Toward that ball,
Striking it with determination rare in children,
And rarer still in him,
Just left of the goalkeeper.

Time, taking a breath
While the earth rotates underneath and
Carries the netting over top that silly ball

His first goal

And in my excitement
For the elder son
Who has finally gifted himself more confidence than I ever could,
I’m grazed by the moment when
He quickly glances my way and
I spy a massive smile.

But our eyes do not meet-
His solar gaze shooting past,
Barely to my left,
Meets his brother’s,
And that cold baby sends a proud smile
To his brother in reply

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