throat
focus on throat –
twinned ridges flicker
with every strained breath
read your range,
her next punch,
in the shadow of clavicle
can’t look at her fists,
can’t follow one
without seeing the other
too late, only when
leather dries cornea
can’t let gaze stray
near her eyes without losing
point of view – remote, objective –
your strength, drive,
pulled under, sunk, by her own
lock sight on throat, throw
six inches north or south,
see nose, ribs, only through your gloves,
watch neck thicken
to swallow, collar heave
3 comments:
Oh, I like a poem that gives instructions on how to see! And how to see the body!
I'm not sure, exactly, what "leather dries cornea" means. But I like the fragmentary bursts - it mimics the way that thoughts emerge between bursts of movement when you're a fully engaged body.
this was the first one i had trouble following :) I liked it I just didn't really get it. (how helpful is that???)
liked "throw six inches north or south"
I like the intensity of this one, the way it mimics the real intensity of focus when you're doing a sport or in fact doing anything that requires a great deal of attention, say like reading poetry. I'm not sure the second person works as well in this poem. I found it a bit misleading.
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