WAITING FOR THE HEAVYWEIGHT DADDIES

 Crouched on the ring steps,
 blue corner, watching the big guys
 two twenty plus, fists the size
 of bull balls, staring at one another 
 waiting for the first bell
 to ring. The two loneliest men 
 in the world.

 Imagine waiting to be bitten by 
 a large dog. What thoughts race out 
 of control? Is one scared the other
 glad of it. Nerves like a tattered 
 rope holding wild horses tethered 
 to a fence post. Are they both
 petrified of the first bell of the final
 apocalypse? Do they have to pee?
 Each has a mother somewhere who cannot
 bear to watch. A mother who is praying.
 Between the judge and the doctor,
 the timekeeper sits like a footman
 at the door of a war.
 
       - Tom Smario