Benched

Benched




The last snarl behind a face-mask to put me on my back
and step over me to sack the QB was Bob Marshall.
He blew through like a wind of flesh in a Bulldog uniform.
And it was his hand that extended as I saw waves of stars.
I got up. Loosed from the beating before me, breathing
normally again. Then I saw Coach Klockner blow a whistle
and head my way. Whatever he thought, he was smiling.
The smile a preamble to thumping your shoulder pads
with a balled fist, a man who towered over other men
by virtue of an anger he served like a nicotine habit.
Maybe he'd recalled I was a whiz kid at math, which
he taught when he wasn't berating us on a practice field.
The sun was at his back, the last of the late-afternoon light
haloing thick shoulders. If football is like a dance, then
mine was about to be unpartnered under a roof of sky.
He kept coming, clipboard in hand, and I got scared.
Like the time I tried to explain running a red light
to a cop when, the whole time, I needed to piss—
the cop's face become my fantasy of an exit wound
as he let me off with a warning and I had to let go
and piss. Like that. All this taking place in Ohio,
James Wright Country where sons of sad fathers
grow suicidally beautiful and knock each other's
dicks in the dirt, each October, because they can.
Coach Klockner was pissed. He took my helmet.
Tossed it. The helmet rolled, Halloween orange-
and-brown, its reckless momentum calculable
by some algebraic formula in which Humiliation
is x, the given, the wound you'll carry forward,
What to Do Next the unknown to be solved for.


Copyright (c) 2011 Roy Bentley. All rights reserved.

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Entertainment

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• twohawksfucking

[mft1234]

nice work

[twohawksfucking]

@mft1234 Thanks, Mike--I like that song of yours you're showcasing these days, as well.

Best,

Roy

[blastedgoat]

I hear great sounds right off the bat, oops wrong sport! I love the way you tell the story! The cop part made me giggle :D I don't like watching football on television but it can be fun to play even if you are 'talentless' haha you build more character that way anyway... and write great poems!

[twohawksfucking]

@blastedgoat Thanks for that. Much appreciated...

[rpVerlaine]

seeing your new video made my day...things have been difficult of late....the hammer coming down too often too fast to avoid. Aslice of life of manhood where only

shadows on the psyche lhave any real staying power. good to hear you again.

[twohawksfucking]

@rpVerlaine Sending you my best wishes. Hope things look up for you, and soon. And thanks--for taking time with this new work. (I finished the poem just yesterday.)

[twohawksfucking]

@tjkoz22 I think you gave me the "gas" to go back at this--you know, visit those times yet again. (I told Gloria tonight, "I don't think it's a place I miss; I think it may be a time." Glad you liked this version.

Take care, my friend.

Roy

[tjkoz22]

"Because they can." Yes, that says it all, Roy!

I, too,  enjoyed our talk yesterday. It was a blast, and a much needed dose of reality.

Tom

[twohawksfucking]

@tinySpectacle Thanks, Lo. The joy is to know that it's working! (Umpteen drafts later, as you know all too well!)

[tinySpectacle]

What a pleasant surprise to see a video by you. The fact that you can make football for me interesting--important somehow--is a testament to your great writing talent. This was a joy to listen to, to think about, to experience.