Head Case

Gak! My shoulder's tense my
Rhythm's off my
Breath is short my
Shoe's untied

I've practiced this for
Many months it should be
Automatic here I am
Blowing the touch
again

STUPID I could see that you
Were going to squirm and
Yet
I missed
Impaled

If I don't win this touch this
Bout this
Pool this
Competition
I won't renew my C

Goddamit you are
TWELVE YEARS OLD I
Should whup your tail should
Run you off the strip
should...
Wait, I should calm down

I KNOW I that should
Disengage riposte into your six
666666 stop
THINKING and just focus on
The fact that I JUST GOT HIT
Again

I DO want to compete I
Want to win no to fence well
No be a sport a
Good one but
My stomach hurts I
Think I've jammed my toe

Every Blessed Thing

The tip jams the
Barrel wiggles loose the
Wire pops out of its groove
And severs cleanly when you beat my blade

The socket will not hold the prongs the
Prongs work free from their appointed nests the
Body cord is faulty at the clip the alligator or
The plug

My sweaty bib grounds out, the Velcro on my
Glove will not stay closed
Tabs holding crucial D-rings fail
Leaving me unmoored

The floor cord jams
The turtle starts to crawl along the floor the
Box displays its lights in
Seemingly random array

With all the fardeling around it takes to make the pieces work
It’s a bloody wonder that we ever get to fence

Annotations

Your first step, a little large
Leaving you
Open to attack

Your feint
A trifle weak
It leaves me unconvinced

Your parry, good!
So firm and strong, but
Where is the riposte?

And your back foot
Trails so far behind
(with knee sunk in)
You have no stable basis for your lunge

Other than that?
Perfection. Go kick butt

The Feline Fencer

Tabby is a cautious beast
She teases, irritates and stalks
Instead of charging down the strip
She hunts, and takes no chances

Rarely going straight on in
Avoiding obvious attacks
She seeks, rather, to hypnotize—
Her waving blade entrances

But her favorite move by far,
Is flicking lightly from aloft
A pitter pat and tabby whack
With staccato advances

The padding feet, the
Whiskered sensitivity to threats
The lighting paw
Combine to make a fearsome foe
But if you squirm and twist away
You’ll keep her on her toes

Cats’ fatal weakness
(Hush, don’t tell) is earnest over-thinking
If you can
Engage her brain
She’ll freeze and falter, blinking

A lethal agonist, it’s true, a deadly opponent,
And yet, you’ll find, when off the strip
A gentler, more domesticated beast you’ve never met

Interception

It's about control…
Or lack thereof

Without the confidence to
Take my game and
Shove it down your throat,
Force you to submit

I badger and I bait
Deconstructing what unfolds
Trusting I can handle
What goes down

Making the best of
My unstable game
Maybe I can commandeer your moves
Shape them to my ends

Provoking opportunities
Seeking reagents for a catalytic act