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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)
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Author: Terence Winch
