The boxer

Jeff Patry 1976 (Nebraska)

January 23 


Ass over tea kettle
He falls and he falls.
Ass over backward
He flops and he sprawls.

But he rises again to continue the fight
Jab, jab, uppercut – left, left, right.

A dervish of whirling,
He swings and he swings.
A twirl of a skirmish,
He darts and he zings.

But try as he may to do what he might,
Pow! To his jaw. Out go the lights.

A sack of potatoes.
He drops to the ground.
A sack full of sorrow,
He’s lost, he stays down.

About this poem

This is a comment on the futility of trying.

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Written on January 17, 2023

Submitted by jpat6000 on January 17, 2023

Modified on March 14, 2023

31 sec read
56

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXA BB XXXA BX XXXX
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 436
Words 104
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 2, 4, 2, 4

Jeff Patry

Born '76. Scholar then engineer then science teacher and now maybe museum guy. Death: not yet more…

All Jeff Patry poems | Jeff Patry Books

1 fan

Discuss the poem The boxer with the community...

2 Comments
  • acronimous
    FWIW, your poem was my personal favorite --- was an amateur boxer myself once upon a time...
    LikeReply 11 year ago
    • jpat6000
      Thank you, that is good to hear. I'll have to aim for a bigger demographic than ex-boxers next time, I guess :)
      LikeReply1 year ago
    • acronimous
      LOL, indeed — seriously though, a great poem all around regardless of the subject… :-)
      LikeReply 11 year ago
  • Alfredgremsly
    As a young man, I use to box! Now as a writer; reading this poem took me back to that time in my life!!! It was a poem I felt as if I could have written!!!
    LikeReply 11 year ago

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"The boxer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/150888/the-boxer>.

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