shadowboxing

Punch-Drunk Love

love's jab slipping quick
beneath a cage of brittle rib,
knocking the wind from lungs,
sapping the strength from limbs,
punch-drunk, sobering heartbreak
beating me and leaving me senseless
in a ring, for round after punishing round
with only a memory, a sparring shadow, to box

photo: 'hanging boxing gloves' by ernie friedlander