Strategy Wheel

Starting simply
Straight lunge into four
Just 80 percent-a most convincing feint
Physical telepathy
A gentle probing of your
State of mind
Observe your twitch of blade
The shadow of your parry (duly noted)
Dictates my next act—a feint in four and disengage to six
Touché
1-0

And since it worked, why not? I try again
But having tweaked the dial
You select a suitable response—
Parry circle four, riposte
1:1

And so I shift in turn and add
A crafty circle disengage and end in six
and touch, again
2:1

Action follows act
Building the bout’s narrative
The story’s arc
A logical progression
Increasingly complex
Until the balance tips and I
Drop back
To the simplest of acts
And feint…

Break distance, breathe
The wheel begins again