Scapulous

Shouldering a burden

Shouldering aside

Shoulder to the wheel

Scaffolding a

Chip, a

Cry, a

Heavy burden, heck, the

Cares of all the world

Broad, strong, cold, soft

Rubbing, shrugging, standing

Scheming with the head to

Rise above the rest

True, all true

Mainly, though, I know that mine is

Sore 

Sketch from Open Clip Art

Women's Practice

Sorry! That must have hurt
My fault--I hit too hard 
Oh dear, your hand...
Let me get some ice

No, no--that was your touch
I'm sure you started first
     my parry was too weak
     I countered into your attack

Wait! Your earring's coming loose
Let me secure the clip
They're very nice--a gift?

You too?! We must be synched
Of course it always starts before a
competition

Bear and Badger, photo courtesy of
PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Recovery

Water, salted nuts
Ice, bananas, gentle stretch
Heat, sleep, patience, time

Preparation

A mask, two cords, two 
working blades. What more do I 
need? Oh! Chocolate.

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

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