A Touch

Can be an accident a 

Fluke of fate a 

Side effect of 

Flailing blade 

A cheap and easy shot 

A crutch 

A sleazy shot that 

Almost shouldn’t count 

(Almost) 

A fertile seed containing 

Replicable DNA 

A template for 

Future success 

A victory a 

Trusted tool, the 

Hard-won culmination of

A patient plan 

A jolt of serotonin that will 

Keep me coming back 

Even when it lands

Just one time out of ten

Halt

Stop the action

Freeze frame

Put everything on pause

Unmask

Let the blade fall

Turn and catch your breath while

Someone who’s supposed to be in 

Charge attempts to

Parse the action

Map what the hell just

Happened here and

Make the call

Don’t look at me, I’m

As mystified as you...

As all who spectate in this 

Strange exchange

However, I suspect that

It may be some time before 

We’re placed back en garde

Faith

It’s humbling to realize that

More than half the time I

Don’t know what I did

That is to say, I know I

Held the blade and

Not my breath

Kept the tension in my legs and

Not my arm

But in between “allez” and “halt” occurs

A sequence of events I

Can’t unpack

Evidently

I did good

The light came on the

Hand flashed up 

Awarding me the touch

I’m just saying (full disclosure)

What happened in between is 

Something of a mystery

I can live with that

In my dreams when

I take flight 

The most important thing is not to 

Wonder how

Lest doubt rescind my wings

Transgressing

Suddenly, your wrist is
fascinating
Your toe
an object of desire
Your knee--oh, show it to me,
Please

Devoid of inhibitions
Untethered from the complex etiquette of
Who goes first
The nicities of foible versus forte
I will embark on licensed mischief
Revel in the freedom to
Do anything I want with my off hand

Blissfully oblivious
Ignorant of what I'm supposed to do
Free to be a newbie once again
Swanning in unrated to muck up the
Seeding of the pools
This should be...amusing

But--I have been warned--
Prepare for epic bruises

The Giving War

You gift me a
Well-considered bruise
Bestowed with grace and
Chased with chaste massage to
Mitigate the pain

I reciprocate by
Nearly taking out your knee
Formidable contusion

This pacific interchange, this
Tit-for-tat
Yields dented masks, torn socks
--but rarely ends in stitches--

We're merely swapping marks of
Tangible affection
A catalog tattooed upon the hand and arm and leg
A testament to friendships sealed with
Just a little bit of blood

B-holding

I thought that when I leveled up
It would come because I'd gotten
Stronger
     Faster
          Wiser
               Better
Metamorphed into a higher state

But no, I checked--
I'm still only me

Ten toes, two feet
Nine knuckles and a
Fragile back
All essential traits are still intact:
Small
     Fierce
          Stubborn
Forever not too bright

If anything, grace came because of
What I lacked: concern for anything but
Getting through the day

Epiphany

So much force
Ending in such
Delicate assault

Arcing over parries rendered moot
Aiming at the sky yet
Homing in on target, sight unseen

Forging a quantum blade that is both
Here
and there

Establishing the virtues of an
Indirect approach

Lessoning on this
--Suspending disbelief--
I realize that 
Flicking is as close to faith as
I may ever know

Perspective

There's your view
Mine
The referee's
The video's false objectivity

The forum's crowded wisdom

Fact is, reality's
replete with ambiguity
Doomed to multivalent states
Open to diverse interpretation 

Most actions are
equivocal 
Contingent on the angle
point of view

Shaped by expectations
What doesn't fit our frame of mind
Dismissed as aberration

Somewhere in the midst

Lies

Triangulated truth

Are we talking fencing, or
the world?

Fashionista

Blank canvas reads as 
Invitation 
Provocation 
Double dare 
Incitement to rebel 

Regulations breed 
Subversive work-arounds 
Foster style built on 
Subtle permutations 
Covert bling 

The font on a lamé 
Patches marching up a sleeve 
A ring, a pierced ear 
Or nose 
Optimistic nails en-armored in 
Enameled heraldry 

Masks like jewels 
Or flags, beasts, flames 
Monsters, Contemporary coats-of-arms 
Concealing 


Hair in spikes, or dreads 
Shagged, mohawked, braided 
Died in all the hues the 
Jacket lacks 

 Below the knee a 
 Panoply of pattern 
Stripes, spots, dots 
Penguins 
Paw prints 
Stars 

Shoes flash semaphoric riffs in 
Red, purple, orange 
Viridian extremes 
Threaten retinal overload 


You think, in uniform, we look alike? 
Then look again, and marvel at the truth, that 

Creativity is fueled by limitations 

Follow the sartorial exploits of fencers with flair, in practice, in competition and on the podium on the Fencing Fashionista blog.

No Show

“Dear Fencer, I am writing to ask if you will answer a survey about why people don’t show up for competitions they have preregistered for…”

Dear Fred

You ask what happened

Truth is,

I overslept

Last night the cat was sick 

She puked all night

I had to

Rush her to the vet

Another time, my car—the battery was dead

Or, on the road, an accident clogged up the pike

And there I sat, when

Registration closed

The furnace died, pipes burst the

Toilet is backed up the workmen said he’d come

(and didn’t show)

An inauspicious stain is creeping

Down the wall

I woke up a fever

Ancient injuries flared up

Loading my equipment to the car I

Threw out my back

The editor turned back my manuscript last night and

Asked for cuts

By first thing Monday,

‘Natch

In short

Life happened

That’s all, just

Life

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

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