Indian Wrestlers, So the Clay
Indian Wrestlers – So, the Clay
says
one to the other:
who will win today?
answers:
the man who makes the bets–
no, the man
who takes the bets,
and though it knows
they’re but dough
to those men–spittle and small
acumen, ghee and
rupee;
out the pit, each
peoples parts, bruise
and broken nose, hearts
rib-caged, eyes, I’s.
***********************
Another 55, rather a draft, for Kerry O’ Connor’s prompt on Real Toads to use a photo from the 2015 National Geographic contest; the above taken by Alain Schroeder in Maharashtra, India, of Kushti wrestlers.
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Tags: Flash 55 poem, http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com, Indian wrestler poems, manicddaily, national geographic maharashtra poem, people's lives poem, so the clay says poem
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ManicDDaily 
January 4, 2016 at 2:00 am
I think the man holding the bets will be the sole winner… There’s always a winner behind a fight like this
January 4, 2016 at 6:01 am
Wow, really good, Karin.
Sorry to read about major stressors for you, but I’m glad that’s inspiring a font of poetry! *off to read your other offerings*
January 4, 2016 at 7:28 am
Many forms of motivation for this type of competition (or any really), money, fame, athleticism…The picture and poem make a bold statement together.
January 4, 2016 at 8:14 am
Wrestling is a very ancient form of our innate desire to compete and excel(and dominate as well, I’m sure) You capture a feel of that timelessness here, and of the commonality of our clay and bruises–I love the title working into the poem so perfectly, too.
January 4, 2016 at 8:34 am
I feel like these guys (in the picture) may be forced into wrestling out of caste or money–and yet I’m sure all the innate stuff takes over too when they are actually wrestling. I like the way the title-feed worked too–of course, it started as a 55 gimmick! To get the word count right–but then I didn’t mind it–ha.
(It is ten degrees here.) k.
On Mon, Jan 4, 2016 at 8:14 AM, ManicDDaily wrote:
>
January 4, 2016 at 5:14 pm
Really powerful. The matter of fact tone mixed with the words packs such a punch.
January 4, 2016 at 5:42 pm
Yes! There is always a winner, but not always a fair one.
January 8, 2016 at 1:23 am
my younger son wrestles. my older did, til injury forced him out. i can’t imagine being coerced into it… but you have done this justice ~