You, My Ali

Sure, he floated
and he stung

Liston and Liston, again
Frazier and Foreman

and Cosell. He’d
tell us

what he was gonna do
in verse

and then do worse.
But, that wasn’t why

they couldn’t whoop him,
in the jungle

or in Manila. You know why
they couldn’t whoop him?

It was the combination,
his left and his right and his poetry.

Even the ropes fell in love
with him, eventually.

Between you and me
and Angelo Dundee,

he was just too pretty.
So, you go into this world

you, my Ali,
you go be

too pretty too

–March 24, 2016