‘The Fight Of Your Life’

(©2020 Manic Pianic @flipsidebride)


Congratulations kid!
You’ve already won
ROUND ONE.
You fought 1 in 400 trillion odds of being born and
100 million competitive sperm.
Welcome little Flyweight to
The Fight of Your Life with...

ROUND TWO:
Ding Ding
Hope you’ve got a good coach to advise on your
peek a boo defence.
You’ll need it to fight
Barron Death: The Undefeated World Heavyweight Champion Of All Time!
So put on your boxing mittens cos once
The Bell of Life rings, you’re on your own kid.
Ding Ding
Hey, well done. I see you got all your best jabs in.
A good defence against disease; Death’s right hook, whilst
ducking and diving
from childhood drowning.
Doing well - only a few minor sprains
but you’ll really need to up your game.

ROUND THREE
Ding Ding
Gotta dodge all that indoctrination bullshit flying your way.
Kid, you’re quite impressionable, so
don’t let them punch bias into your head, or you’ll
kiss the canvas of education with a
Big. Fat. Lip.
Counter punch with questions and
never let them shake you out of your
curiosity and empathy
Know. Your. Enemies.
They’ll be many so train from the best at
The School of Hard Knocks.
With lots of nifty footwork kid, you’ll soon take everything they
throw at you firmly on the chin and
In. Your. Stride.

And in the red corner tonight we have
The School Bully. Get ready for…

ROUND FOUR
Ding Ding
Keep hitting them hard and clean kid and
Don’t. Back. Down.
Don’t lose the momentum.
They’ll run into a corner
where you can cut off the ring and observe their power,
as you watch it snap from red to white; their
blood dripping from coward’s cheeks.
Yep, he’s out for the count but looks like they’re replacing him with
another contender.
Yeah I know kid, Life don’t play by
The Marquess of Queensberry Rules, so you gotta wise up:
Stop being a worrier.
Start becoming a warrior.
Next up, The P.A’s:
Passive Aggressives

ROUND FIVE
Ding Ding
Shit! Where’s Freddy Roach when you need him?
You gotta keep making fine adjustments to their
below the belt tactics and foul play.
It’s all about scoring points with P.A’s.
Kid, they don’t punch hard but they punch super fast.
In and out before you realize you’ve been hit.
See? They just sucker-punched you behind your back. That’ll
hurt like hell when the bruise shows tomorrow.
Get back up there kid.
He’s dancing rings around you making it hard to
Pin. Him. Down.
Fix his vaseline head in a vice,
then cure his insomnia by
punching his lights out!
No kid. Don’t throw in the towel.
Suicide, drugs and car accidents are like
Liston, Tyson and Foreman at your age.
You’re growing into a fine boxer.
No white feathers flap around this Featherweight, but you gotta
win your inner struggle before you
step into that ring.
Just keep on bobbin’ and weavin’
and you might make it through to...

ROUND SIX
Ding Ding
Fight for independence and against
The Herd
As long as you don’t back down kid, this should be
an easy round, so
Stand. Your. Ground.
Step out of your comfort zone.
Herds throw conservative right swings and
slow predictable left hooks.
Bam! They’re down.
What a bunch of paloozas!

ROUND SEVEN
Ding Ding
Next up:
Consumerism
She’ll keep you chasing around the ring in an endless loop.
Bombarding you with bouts of adverts that will
trap you on the ropes using a dirty
stranglehold of psychological manipulation, so deflect her attack and learn
How. To. Parry.
You need a superior defence move to block those alluring
Ads. Of. Adversary.

ROUND EIGHT
Ding Ding
Inequality and Prejudice
Those blind scaredy cats who lack
the eye of the tiger.
Desperate to hold onto their self-entitled titles
they will try to keep you down and under their paw.
But you’re the ferocious underdog with a dogmatic overbite so
take a step back and observe how they clawed their power,
then work harder and smarter to topple their tower.
Smash their bones of patriarchy, racism and bigotry.
Expose your true colours in a blaze of glory,
as you swallow their defeat with your jaws of victory.
Go head to head and toe to toe,
dodging ignorance and homophobic blows.
And as he falls to the ground you’ve
broken through the ceiling as well as his arrogant
Jaw. Of. Glass.
Cos you’re an elegant out-boxer kid,
You’ve. Got. Class.

ROUND NINE
Ding Ding
You’ve been promoted to Lightweight cos you’re
So. Switched. On.
Enlightenment from years of experience,
reflecting off your armour of resilience.
Your boxer’s skin hardens to rubber,
to bounce off the brutal attacks of a slugger.
Like Jealousy, Selfishness and Envy;
that three headed verdigris beast of an enemy.
Trained by that German coach Schadenfreude,
you deflect their insecurities to destroy her.
With a lethal knockout punch of pity,
you’re a tough survivor kid, just like Rocky.

ROUND TEN
Ding Ding
And in the Blue corner today we have:
Depression
who is determined to drag you down and
drain your game,
but you can tame,
this villainous vampire heavyweight,
so medicate and meditate.
CBT and psychotherapy,
with a sunny glow of positivity.
Cos yellow mixed with blue turns green,
that’s Nature’s shot of dopamine.
You’ll float like a butterfly and sting like a bee,
you’ll be the greatest, just like Muhammed Ali.


ROUND ELEVEN
Ding Ding
So you think you could be past your prime?
You’ve come all this way so now’s not the time.
Yeah, you’re a little heavy for a Heavyweight,
you need to change your game or you’ll stagnate.
It’s ok to indulge in Sugar Ray’s sweet science,
so never take a dive and don’t silence that defiance.
You’ve got to train even harder to fight The Flab,
and dodge that podge with a monster jab.
Remember Foreman ‘n’ Hopkins beat all the odds,
so take the advice of those boxing Gods.
Two goes in and one comes out,
you will never lose until you give up.

ROUND TWELVE
Ding Ding
Hey kid, look how far you’ve come,
you’ve reached the twelfth and final round.
You may be a little battered and shopworn,
but you’ve lived your life as a champion.
You may be closer to rainbow’s end,
but a pot of gold awaits my friend.
The Undisputed Heavyweight Crown,
for a boxing King who refused to back down.
The rhythm of your life is now smooth and steady,
when Death drops by you’ll be more than ready.
So until you take your final breath,
you might still stand a chance against Death.
You proudly wear your belt like royal robes,
because on it is inscribed
‘Never. Give. Up. Hope.’


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