d16 – 8.12.25

two piecemeal weeks at most
to unclench active fists,
attempt to unwind pressure-cooked
minds off the topic of simulated war.
when we returned time crucified
from elemental to ephemeral.
what we had thought of freedom
conformed into unkempt,
skyless strain.
we practiced
as pink-purple redbuds
sloughed hibernation’s coat,
then summer’s heat,
“voluntary” workouts,
coaches above peered
through looking glass,
searing, seething, stewing,
upon our already
mile-high basecamp.
fleeting moments to sit
without a cutthroat voice
enforcing competition’s burden
we carried with pride & promise
a glorious future
given iron-weighted sleds
hailed as chariots,
us thoroughbreds.
battle cries echoed
off vaulted ceilings,
manufactured grass,
black-bead sand
below a laboratory sun.
autumn’s furnace boot camp,
medal of honor
if escaped fracture-less.
and season’s nauseous tumult,
then winter’s prized bowl game,
they said it was a blessing
to miss holidays, after which
straight into off-season,
5am mat-drills,
where ear-piercing whistles
triggered middle earth tremor
we had been modified to savor.
otherwise, maybe,
at least one of us
could step off desire’s crimson wave
and inhale to witness,
for once,
mindless, downward marching.