The Champ (short poem)

[Wetzelbill]

This is really rough. Not even edited, in all honesty. Just busted it out in a few minutes. So, yeah, I expect to do lots of reworking on it, but I thought I'd post it for you all to check out.


THE CHAMP

Every time at an Indian rodeo there
is a drunk with a story

They swarm ubiquitous behind the chutes
Cheap alcohol, jeans and a cowboy hat

A different one works a different event
Dressed up for one day of the year

All the young cowboys point and laugh
Going back to tell the tales

“Hey, this wino told me how to ride a bull
Look, that guy right there!”

Then somebody says “that’s so and so, he could
Have been world champ but he drank”

The others tell the legends, the stories of the time
This drunk rode the unrideable

This was the mythic figure people talked about
Inebriated, pathetic and legendary

A pickled hero toasted for past glories with every drink
he wins and loses again and again

Later on when my friends and I would get drunk
Hitting parties, fucking women

When we would celebrate the victories of the day
I wonder how many of us will be like him

A drunk with a story and a bottle in his hand
Looking in the mirror at a legend

[oneighty]

1. Sigh

Perhaps you are going where you should not go?

I am reminded of my friend 'Wayne the Great Seneca Lover'and Viet Nam survivor.

180

[Wetzelbill]

2. how so?

I wouldn't say this is even close to being as far as I've ever went on these topics. In fact, it's all basically true. I'm a Blackfeet Indian, raised on a reservation and I used to ride bulls. I really do know guys like that. I have wondered those very things. I'm not going anywhere I haven't been. Still, it's mainly a concept right now. If I do anything with it, I'll revise it significantly.

So why does this remind you of your friend?

[oneighty]

4. Wayne

has about drank himself to death. Killing demons I guess.

180

[Wetzelbill]

5. ohhhh I see

I used to work with a guy who is a Vietnam vet. He nearly drank himself to death, until he became a born-again Christian. He told me that he used to get flashbacks in his sleep and would wake up choking his wife. He nearly killed her a few times. Flipped out and beat her badly. Rough stuff. He eventually pulled himself out of it though. I'm not sure how much a person can truly heal though. I know lots of vets, I have never met one who hasn't had demons. Vietnam. Rough place. It hurt a lot of good people that's for sure. I hope your friend is able to find himself again. He'll be in my thoughts and prayers.

I do hope that my writing doesn't offend you. I go into some bad spots quite often. Seen some bad things in my life. The world isn't always a pretty place. Sometimes showing it in that light is pretty tough. Trust me, it's not easy for me to go there, I force myself into writing stuff that makes me uncomfortable or even hurts me a little.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear Wetzelbill!

Very nice indeed.....Esp. the last verse.

I look forward to seeing what you will do with it, and where you'll go with it....

:hug:

[Wetzelbill]

6. glad you like it

yeah, I'm figuring out some things with it. I don't consider myself a poet really, I can write poetry, but mainly I'm a prose guy. Short stories and creative nonfiction are my strengths. I do have a background in screenwriting too. I'm pretty solid at it, it's just not one of my loves, you know? :)