Sunday, October 20, 2013

Hocus, Focus


It’s hard to track something
Unknown
I’m not sure what “focus” feels
Like, smells like
How it pings or ripples
The ionizing pattern of its
Path

Difficult for you to teach what you can’t
Circumscribe, define
Display for me to
Imitate

A black box, known only by its
Outputs—evidentiary
Success

Or thrown into relief by
Antonymic stats: it’s not
following a script
correcting my mistakes
obsessing on results

On the few occasions focus
Answered my petition, it
Powered in so strong, it
Swept away all trace
When it moved on
Leaving only pixels in its wake
Backscatter on my soul

Here’s what little I recall:

Beneath my thumping heart my
Threaded breath
A low internal thrum, a tuning fork
Vibration that aligned my
Hand, and foot and
Eye

An almost absent self
Out-of-body seeing splendid moves from
Slight remove

A blessed lack of
Thought

It
Felt
Good



Sunday, October 6, 2013

Engagements


If pools are
Speed dates
Blurred with first impressions
Sound bites, smooth lines
Snap judgments
Eenie Meenie
Moe

DEs are the second date, and third
Trapped together long enough to
Flaunt a broader repertoire
Scout habits, reflex, preferences
Test compatibility

Often it is touch for touch
4-5, 8-6, 9-8
Until at last, one fencer or the other
Penetrates the masquerade and
Pulls ahead to finish 15-9
Or 10

Nine minutes is enough to
Court
Commit
Break up

Honey Badger Love from Bonjour Poupette

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Tutorial


Every time that something starts to work, you
Make it harder
Dangling an elegant new skill
Effective
Deadly
Just beyond my reach
An exercise in
Escalating scales

Seems like lessons are the process of
Sequential failure
Always seeking for the next thing
I can’t do
Plowing on past mastery to find where
I fall short

A blade-thin line divides
Complacent competence from
Terminal frustration

I realize, in my random motes of wisdom
However much I long for comfort
Kudos, praise
This is the learning zone:
The razored edge between
Discomfort and perfection

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Reset


In the midst of combat
Off-balance, off-
Beat, tense, winded
Blown

I stumbled on
A reservoir of calm
Secret, hidden
Banked from aimless hours spent
A cabin by the lake
A rock, baked in the sun
A cat-warmed bed

Wasted time, it seems was
Not so wasted after all

That dousing triggered me to
Disconnect
Detach
Detox

Glory, just like that
Breath steadied, shoulder slacked
Feet fell into patterned certitude
Three touches
Bim bam boom

Go figure

How can I find that puddled quietude again?
Short of being drenched in memory
What can bring me
Back to earth?

Maybe nothing-I’d better blaze the path to my new
Swimming hole, my
Private pool of peace

The better to do battle

Photo by Dan Belton (No Badger Cull) on Flckr

Monday, September 23, 2013

Siblings


Look at you!
All squabble & bounce
Bickering spats
Whacking, cheating,
Stabbing in the back
This isn't bouting, it's attempted
Phratricide

So halt

You
However plaguy and pestiferous
Smaller sisters call for care
While you're forever bigger,
Stronger
She knows every chink in
Your defense

You
Though he's an
Ever -growing pain
A swagger and a tease,
All brash intimidation
Someday
He will have your back

Salute, and shake and reaffirm
Your congeneric coalition
Two against the world