Reluctant Fighter

Raging Bull: Tired of Fighting

To Laura

I emerge
ink-stained and bleeding
still reeling
from electric humdrum.

"Good, clean mechanical fun!"

A bambo-block beating
leaves a fleshy palette
of yellow and blue, every hue
between green and black.

I emerge
with fistfuls of puss-soaked cotton
and a scroll of stretched skin,
bearing her initials
and memory there-in.