K.O.
he was easy, fat as a hummingbird
and I had him blowing,
I jabbed and crossed and took my time:
everybody was waiting for the main event,
drinking beer, and I was thinking
how we were going to furnish the house,
I needed a workbench and some tools,
and then he came over with the right—
I had been looking at the lights
and the next thing I knew everybody was
howling, and I was down on my knees like
praying, and when I got up
he was strong and I was weak;
well, I thought, I’ll go back to the farm,
I always was a poor winner.
Other works by Charles Bukowski...
