Family heartache inspires former Dewsbury teacher’s second book of Leeds United poetry

Life-long Leeds fan Mike Keddie, who used to teach history before switching careers by completing a MSc in Computer Science with Cyber Security last June, has turned to poetry again “to work through my grief” after the sad deaths of his brother, Dave, and father, Tony, in the space of three months at the start of 2022.

This heartache has inspired the self-published ‘A Light in the Darkness: How Marcelo Bielsa Saved My Life and Other Jottings of Joy,’ which is dedicated to the memory of Dave, and follows Mike’s 2021 debut release, ‘The Poetry of Pain: Following Leeds United and Other Tales of Woe.’

Mike, who now works in IT for Bradford-based charity Christians Against Poverty, said:

“The first book was all about working through the negative feelings and anger, and trying to turn it into something positive. My dad had dementia and he was starting to get worse and that was praying on my mind. My brother was also diagnosed with bowel cancer so there were a whole series of things to try and process and work through.

“This book is a reflection on 2022. It started off badly as my brother died in January and then my dad died in March. Getting out of teaching helped in terms of stress and pressure but then the personal experience kicks in.

“My brother was my only sibling and I was very close to him. That was really hard. The grief for my dad was less kind of raw. He was 84 and he’d had a good life. He’s not suffering any more and he had been struggling for quite a while. The first half of this year was wiped out trying to cope with that.

“I have tried to use poetry to work through my grief and get something positive out of a rubbish situation. It is a way of working through issues that I had and trying to do something creative with some negative thoughts.”

Bielsa’s exciting tenure at Elland Road forms the first part of the keen Parkrunner’s latest collection of thoughtful verses, although the iconic Argentinian’s sacking in February left a sombre Mike to proclaim the decision as “the betrayal complete” in his poem ‘Needless Sacrifice.’

He said: “It was good to reflect on Bielsa’s time at Leeds and the positive changes that he brought in me over these last couple of years, and to so many Leeds fans, in the club and in the city.

“The way he conducted himself, the purity of his footballing ideas, the brilliant football to watch. Leeds were on tele all the time during lockdown and it was great to watch.

“It is about being thankful for what he did for the club, from being in the doldrums for so long and transforming the club.

“The way that he did it was just astonishing. He said he’ll take the players he’s got and transform them from underachieving mid-table Championship players to challenging the European champions and taking them on in that first game of the season back in the Premier League at Liverpool. It was thrilling.

“But his sacking felt like shock and grief. I would rather have kept Bielsa and gone down than what happened in sacking him and staying up. I felt really aggrieved. What he did was absolutely astonishing and he didn’t deserve to be treated like that at all.”

And Mike - who uses the pseudonym ‘Thelaitmcmikerd’ as part of creating his own “poetic version of Banksy,” a secretive figure in the imaginary shadowy organisation called the Republicans of Dewsbury - believes the next step on his journey may take him to recite his poetry live on stage.

“I am using this book to think positively and be thankful for so many things in my life,” he said. “Although I have lost my brother and my dad I have still got an awful lot to be thankful for.

“Trying to put things into poetry, especially when you’re not a talented poet, is certainly pretty challenging. But it has been a 100 per cent positive experience. It’s a life enhancing thing.

“I do want to do some live performance poetry and I am investigating that. It will be something that will take me out of my comfort zone but if it goes well it will be a great experience.

“I have also got an idea for a third one, whether it will work I don’t know. A working title is something like ‘Away with Leeds United’ - it will be a travelling adventure one.”

‘A Light in the Darkness: How Marcelo Bielsa Saved My Life and Other Jottings of Joy,’ is available to buy from Read Books in Holmfirth and Truman Books in Farsley.