Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, JIU JITSU, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

JIU JITSU, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: There's a deadly kind of wrestling
Last Line: Throw his thigh-bone out of place!
Subject(s): Wrestling And Wrestlers


There's a deadly kind of wrestling
Known by wily Japanese,
That can break a little finger,
Or a back, with equal ease.

There are mystic holds and turnings,
There are crafty tricks galore,
There are fatal twists and pressures,
And -- a corpse is on the floor.

But, of all the sly devices
There is one prime art to know:
Make your pliant body fluid
To the lunging of your foe.

Let him at you, blind with fury,
Aiming at a single point:
And, as thus he plunges forward,
Jerk his shoulder out of joint!

It's a risky kind of combat,
Not the thing for me and you;
But I'll venture to find in it
Just a parable or two.

This, for instance: When Affliction
Thrusts, impetuous, at your heart,
Don't attack him, don't resist him;
Act a while a yielding part.

Let him wear himself upon you,
Let him buffet empty space;
Then, when he is quite exhausted,
Throw his thigh-bone out of place!





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