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A Grandfather’s Lecture
If punched, you punch twice as hard, and in the face,
a wop right in the nose. Use the flat counter of your fist
or the palm’s hard ridge. Lean into it but brace
your stroke with your back leg then lift
your whole blow into his mug. He’ll crumble.
If you’re lucky, blood will pour in rivulets
down his mouth and chin leaving him startled,
dazed like the newly awakened. Don’t relent.
Think what he’d do to you if given the chance.
Throw what we used to call a haymaker.
Nest fear inside but don’t tremble. Don’t parade & prance
like you’re Ali. Don’t hesitate. Land a jawbreaker,
jab him in the gut. Did you know the Brown Bomber
never televised a hit, never reared back, just snuggled in,
leaned close shoulder to shoulder, calmer
than most then kapow to the ribs? Schmeling struggled
on the ropes. Life’s no boxing ring, but know your power,
what your shadow is made. Then always make up.
Show your adversary you’ve got class; don’t tower
over him. That’s for punks. Extend a hand. Help him up.
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Major Jackson is the author of five books of poetry, the most recent of which is The Absurd Man. His collection of essays, A Beat Beyond: Selected Prose, is forthcoming in Fall 2022. A recipient of fellowships from Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and Whiting Writers Award, Major Jackson is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities at Vanderbilt University. He serves as the Poetry Editor of The Harvard Review.
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Praying with Grandpa by Henry Ossawa Tanner (American painter, 1859-1937)
A badddd bard and what not
Posted by: reuben m. jackson | April 17, 2022 at 10:50 AM
I really like how this poem stays on the beam and focusses ever more surprisingly on the matter at hand, with fresh and clear gestures in a steady stream all the way down.
It's also interesting to imagine the dramatic scene these words grow out of. Strong poem--I'm glad Terence's shown it to us.
Posted by: Don Berger | April 17, 2022 at 11:12 AM
Don: Thanks for the comment.
Posted by: Terence Winch | April 17, 2022 at 11:34 AM
The final two-and-a-half lines save this poem with the real lesson. I don’t accept what the grandfather is teaching, as he leads up to those last lines, but that doesn’t change my admiration for how beautifully the poem works.
Posted by: Anne Harding Woodworth | April 17, 2022 at 12:17 PM
full of surprises, some expected, some un-, all contributing to the dramatic energy of the poem
Posted by: lally | April 17, 2022 at 12:17 PM
Great poem!! Who says poetry does nothing? This one made all hundred pounds of me stand up and practice the positions. I will smile and apologize to anybody I have to use this advice on.
Posted by: Clarinda | April 17, 2022 at 01:55 PM
The great thing about this poem is it says one thing and means another--like the great metaphysical poets. Major Jackson is among them.
Posted by: Grace Cavalieri | April 17, 2022 at 04:58 PM
"Your shadow"! Yes.
Posted by: Robert Pinsky | April 17, 2022 at 07:51 PM
"Nest fear inside but don't tremble." That's the trick, isn't it, both in fighting and writing.
Posted by: Geoffrey Himes | April 18, 2022 at 05:03 AM
Wise stuff. Grace Cavalieri, I very much appreciate your comment--really simply explains what I look for in the dynamic of a poem-like subtext in a play.
Many times a week I think of the great quote from Mike Tyson:
"Everybody's got a plan until they get punched in the face."
Posted by: Bernard Welt | April 18, 2022 at 11:37 AM
Great conclusion, and I love the revival of the Brown Bomber and his first-round knockout of Max Schmeling. Nice work if you can get it, and I speak as one who has boxed! Kudos.
Posted by: David Lehman | April 18, 2022 at 12:27 PM
Indeed, my code coming up too.
But a guy who punched me hardest has never helped me back up. Iʻve been waiting near 55 years now.
Love the tight, taut rhythms of this one, like Joe Louis in-close himself!
Posted by: Garrett | April 18, 2022 at 12:54 PM
I think that to know "what your shadow is made" must mean to be calmly mindful of the techniques you mastered by shadowboxing. Developing that calmness then allows you to extend a helping hand to your downed adversary.
Posted by: Peter Kearney | April 18, 2022 at 11:30 PM