TKO

i was disappointed
at first that my
mother could no longer
put up her dukes and
brawl, that she had
lost several steps,
and was on the defensive
for the first time in
her mothering career.
she was eighty-one
though and had had
a good run with that
left handed jab,
and mean uppercut
that came out of
nowhere. i waved
the referee in to stop
the fight. there was
no sense in it anymore,
she was woozy
and tired, done. she
had forgotten what
the fight was all
about, and her corner
threw in the towel
and finally, once more
i was ten again
and she was thirty
four, the way it always
should have been,
not us in the ring.