1.
I have seen this before
        and I watch
with rapt attention.


2.
I have seen this before — 
        he enters the ring,
        silk robed,
        moving on the balls of his feet,
        waving
                        to the crowd.

It is
        a variation
                on a theme.


3.
He starts slowly.
He lumbers across the ring.
He moves like a giant.
He is there — 
        bare-breasted — 
eyeing his opponent
                warily.


4.
I have seen this before — 
slow methodical punching — 
probing
   softening up — 
deliberative.
left
left
        but no right — 
no movement of the torso
    no exposure
                of the chest.
He waits
    for the counter punches — 
how fast do they come?
  how hard
        do they fall?


5.
Then, it is a dance,
                     a lightness of foot,
as he moves around and maneuvers his
opponent — weaving, dodging, criss-cross, criss-
cross of the legs of the arms of the blows,
the opponent punches
                        into the air. . . 
pop pop move pop pop move, pop duck
uppercut hook tap tap move move punch punch
and the crowd sees what it is screaming for.


6.
The opponent is, at once,
        humongos                       tiny
   super-heavyweight                                    wimp
At moments the opponent
                the adversary
looms large in the ring — 
                the ring is his domain — 
most of all
        the opponent is hard to contain
             deceptive
      hard to defeat


7.
The boxer falls — 
        one
        two
   he rises,
              unsteady
between two and three
more through an act of will
                of defiance
        of surety
                   in his skill
his left eye is puffy
  his stomach aches — 
but he knows
that this is about pain
                the endurance of pain.


8.
He moves flatfooted
        some shakiness
                        to his legs
he shakes his head
        squints
                        unsquints
                his eyes
signals
           that he is ready to begin
He lets the adversary come closer
                come closer
he puts his arms up in defense
he looks powerless, helpless,
                        on the ropes — 
but the sports writers realize
        the fight fans realize
        but his adversary does not — 
rope a dope rope a dope
deceiving the deceiver
        catching a quick breath


9.
In his corner, he doesn't let them cut him.
"I can still see. I can still see.
My vision is fine."
He ignores what his trainer says.
He concentrates on the fight.


10.
How much of it
        is a caged animal
        pacing inside of him
        hurt hungry angry
        willing to do anything
                to be free?
How much of it is
        the methodical craftsman — 
        the one who understands cause and effect,
        the one who understands endurance
                pacing
                tempo
                control?

It is a dichotomy
        between barbarism and classicism,
between everything
        the neoclassicists adored — 
   the perfection of form,
   the discipline of mind,
   the control and understanding of movement — 
and everything
        the neoclassicists abhored — 
   the irrational
   the cannibalistic ritualistic
                paganistic brutality
   the lower class vulgarity
   the blood, the blood-lust,
                the gore.

We see it all
in every punch
  in every blow.


11.
He moves out of his corner and
it is clear that he has control — 
he anticipates every move
        thwarts it
   uses it
                to his advantage.

We are waiting for the knock out.
We are waiting for the final blow.


12.
ring — ring as self
                        pacing
riffs idiom percussion speed
barbarism percussion knockdown — 
   between three and four seconds — 
pacing
        metaphors
                metaphors for the ring — 
the bright lights
        glammer
                        glitter
sweat
        pacing
self
                percussion

   metaphor


13.
At the end
        everything is loud,
even the sound of sweat
hitting the canvas
                                is horrific.


14.
Afterwards they ask him
        how he did
        how he thought he did.
"It was a good fight. A touch adversary.
I think the judges made a good decision.
Obviously there are things I could have done better,
but I fought a good fight
        and it came out the way it did."
Afterwards they ask him questions
   and he has no real answers. . . 


15.
I have seen this before
   but each time
there is a variation
                on the theme — 
a man enters the ring,
a man leaves the ring,
   and what happened
                in between?