The Kid's Last Fight

Bouncing off canvas,
fighting fire, smoke
and bureaucracy

has drawn gentle Ben
to the surface
through all his days

of fireman and tent boxer.
Every-boy's-dream sits
in a neutral corner,

dubious legs
crossed- a legacy of
chasing the masculine,

to be a bloke
in this
jockstrap city.

Today he closes
his frayed
'Kid Wild' gown

around
wrinkled genitals,
a lifetime of girls

in his pulse, the call
"Go, Kid, go!"
down sawdust aisles ...

Even now they bathe
his knuckles in
the Extended Care Ward.

Between rounds
he grips their hands:
"All I ask's a slow count-

"Ya with me?
Eh? eh?
eh?"


(Available in 'Pushing at Silence', SALT Books 1996)