Corners

Corners by Odin Roark He thought he knew corners After all Stumbled into Been backed into More than his share This was different He lay in bed Fingering his glasses Should he wear them? Leave them? Did it matter? His eyes dropped from the ceiling To the backlit corner of flapping window blind Green and red neon rolled its pattern outside Nudging sticky air under the shade Carrying the boredom of a lone pigeon From the 10th floor ledge Cooing like a bell sinking under water He’d never had to consider this challenger before A mere corner of his hotel room Where only window and curtain Separated him from the final count He recalled the loud bells of the past The ones saving him many times But tonight… Tonight he was up against a real contender A massive force never faced before And there was nowhere to run This time The bell would remain silent He put on his glasses Stood and moved up to his last round He knew the mammoth shadow of his past The one his fists could never hit Would force him into the ropes someday It was inevitable Such a blow had been a long time coming Some people called it The forever-darkness-without-light He stepped onto the ledge and was ready Until… Until that beat up warrior had to stand there On its one leg Stare at him with its only good eye And coo again Again Like the bell underwater He hesitated Adjusted his glasses Smiled “Tough love, eh?” And was gone