Monday, January 3, 2011

the wrestler



Of all those odd jumbles of vowels
my son brings with him to the world -
the gurgles; yelps; indian war whoops -
broken consonants, riddles, squawks,
the strangest by far is that piercing
screech; a squeal of brakes on a
dodge scraping the corner, hubcap
flapping, all this accompanied by tiny
fists flung out over each shoulder,
as he comes to in his crib, half drunk
on milk, one expression after another,
mouth yawning; lips smacking in
a perfect 'o'; forehead furrowed with
all that effort required just to break
wind, squeeze out a fart: a pistol shot.

It is an undecipherable conundrum.

The letting go of past lives, the
slipping of an old soul into a new shoe.
The lacing and interlacing of self,
eyelash and fingernail, an epic struggle.

There was a free thinker named Boehme,
much admired by the engraver, Blake.

"Man must be at war with himself,"
he wrote, "fighting must be the watch
word, not with tongue and sword,
but with mind and spirit, and not to

give over."

Peaceful soldier. Wrestling with tigers.




image from the comic book,

"Fiasco Bombasco", by Ive Sorocuk.

1 comment:

Tim said...

" He is of noble lineage, sprung from the warrior caste; His feet have been honored by gods and men; His mind is well established in morality and concentration. That, indeed is your father, lion of men"

This is what theravada buddhists say Princess Yasodhara told to Rahula, on the occasion of his introduction to his father, The Buddha, the former Prince Siddhartha.

Milo is a fine name for a boy to live with.