Wednesday, April 15, 2015

INTERVIEW WITH AN OLD-TIMER OUTSIDE THE REC CENTER.




I scrapped with Sugar Ray over there in the corner—
we was teenagers then & the scrap was violent—
half an hour of trading painful headlocks
until a crowd of adults & kids encircled us—
darkness pounced on the trees in the park
but the 100 watt light-bulb hadn’t tired
it glowed above our sweat-soaked anger—
who can remember the beef? —a note to a pretty girl? —
it was a draw until Sugar Ray says, “I am Mr. Yuk!”—
I laughed at the image of the poisoned face &
Ray stole me so hard in the forehead
my eyes rolled around like immies—
I landed on the seat of my dungarees—
a few years later my man won the belt! welterweight!


for 2015 NaPoWriMo sonnet #14: Interview with a Pedestrian at a 4-Way Stop
for 2015 NaPoWriMo sonnet #15: Interview with a Member of the Jury One Year Later


1 comment:

DAN / DANIEL GUTSTEIN said...

Pictured: the great Sugar Ray Leonard, a boxer who the blogger admires. This interview sonnet is mostly a fiction, but does revolve around a story the blogger was told by a man who claimed to be a former sparring partner of the champ. In the end, the Mr. Yuk poison ad campaign probably came a little late in the day for the chronology to be accurate -- so the "Sugar Ray" of the sonnet is a fictional Sugar Ray. At the same time, the blogger intends this to be a tribute to the former champ, who spoke one day at his junior high school. --------BA