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Some Examples of Silence
by Michael Cope
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Some Examples of
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Four Goju Tales
1
When sensei Brin walked in
there were two guys, really wired,
one had a gun against the secretary’s head.
They were shouting about the till.
“What did you do?”
“I took ‘em out,” he said.
“Faster than a trigger-pull?”
“I moved without thought,
They had no chance. It seemed long
but it was quite short.”
2
When sensei Riki was a deshi
(which is to say, full-time trainee)
three thugs with broken bottles tried
to mug her on the train.
She was slight and short.
“I don’t know what I did.
I just came up out of the seat
and kicked butt. They went down
but I still ran.” She got a cut
on one hand, but not deep.
3
Four guys took sensei Eddie on
in a vacant lot, though what
he was doing there’s an open guess.
Eddie says he went slo-mo
and saw behind him, too.
He dropped them one by one
with all the time and some
to spare. Then he made himself
scarce. Best to not be there
if another one comes with a gun.
4
When one of sensei Jack’s black belts
tied the knot, the party was at
a Mitchell’s Plain hotel. Most of
the club turned up, maybe
twenty dans of black belts in the bar.
When bad vibes erupted, Jack stood
up and said: “Come. This is no place
for us,” and then he took
the whole club out of there,
and left the fight behind.
1
When sensei Brin walked in
there were two guys, really wired,
one had a gun against the secretary’s head.
They were shouting about the till.
“What did you do?”
“I took ‘em out,” he said.
“Faster than a trigger-pull?”
“I moved without thought,
They had no chance. It seemed long
but it was quite short.”
2
When sensei Riki was a deshi
(which is to say, full-time trainee)
three thugs with broken bottles tried
to mug her on the train.
She was slight and short.
“I don’t know what I did.
I just came up out of the seat
and kicked butt. They went down
but I still ran.” She got a cut
on one hand, but not deep.
3
Four guys took sensei Eddie on
in a vacant lot, though what
he was doing there’s an open guess.
Eddie says he went slo-mo
and saw behind him, too.
He dropped them one by one
with all the time and some
to spare. Then he made himself
scarce. Best to not be there
if another one comes with a gun.
4
When one of sensei Jack’s black belts
tied the knot, the party was at
a Mitchell’s Plain hotel. Most of
the club turned up, maybe
twenty dans of black belts in the bar.
When bad vibes erupted, Jack stood
up and said: “Come. This is no place
for us,” and then he took
the whole club out of there,
and left the fight behind.
