"Round 3" by Eloisa Amezcua

[View this email on a browser]( [Forward to a friend]( [facebook-icon]( [tumblr-icon]( [twitter-icon]( July 12, 2018 [Round 3]( [Eloisa Amezcua]( after Tyehimba Jess Freedom is what you can buy with a left jab & a right cross. You’ve got the uppercut of a champ. On a sweaty August night, you watch Ramos v Ramos from the Olympic on TV. You turn off the blaring AC, want to hear the fighters’ tssiiuu tssiiuu, exhaling as they attempt to break each other’s skin. You’re light on your feet like Mando, got Sugar’s hand speed. Freedom is your girl by your side telling you to fight. She brings your boxing license in a lunch bag while you labor at Lockheed, roots for you in Rocky Lane’s garage on a Sunday as you spar any man who dares. She wipes your burning face with a cool towel, the sinewed shape of your body surfacing quick after you trade in Budweiser for a jump rope. Freedom is the rattle in your jaw the first time you take a hook to the gut, the way a glove slides across your nose slick with Vaseline as you size up the weary contender, know that look in his eyes that whispers across the canvas between rounds. Finish me already, body shriveling in the corner, you’ve won. [Like this on Facebook]( [Share via Twitter]( Copyright © 2018 Eloisa Amezcua. Used with permission of the author. [illustration]( About This Poem “Before turning pro, ‘Schoolboy’ Bobby Chacon was notorious for starting fights in liquor store parking lots after school. He began training as a boxer in the late ’60s after his future wife, Valorie Ginn, encouraged him to make a living out of his natural fighting skills. Chacon went on to win two world boxing championships during his sixteen-year career, though he faced many tragedies and pitfalls along the way.” —Eloisa Amezcua [Eloisa Amezcua]( Eloisa Amezcua’s debut collection is From the Inside Quietly (Sundress Publications, 2018). She is the founder of Costura Creative and lives in Columbus, Ohio. Photo credit: Chris Cheney [From the Inside Quietly]( Poetry by Amezcua [From the Inside Quietly]( (Sundress Publications, 2018) "A Perfect Game" by Yesenia Montilla [read-more]( "Perfect Form" by Kamilah Aisha Moon [read-more]( "Ali! Ali!" by Khaled Mattawa [read-more]( July Guest Editor: Adrian Matejka Thanks to Adrian Matejka, author of Map to the Stars (Penguin Press, 2017), who curated Poem-a-Day this month. Read more about [Matejka]( and our [guest editors for the year.]( Help Support Poem-a-Day If you value Poem-a-Day, please consider a [monthly donation]( or [one-time gift]( to help make it possible. Poem-a-Day is the only digital series publishing new, previously unpublished work by today’s poets each weekday morning. The free series, which also features a curated selection of classic poems on weekends, reaches 450,000+ readers daily. Thank you! [Small-Blue-RGB-poets.org-Logo]( Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit [Poets.org](. You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click [here](. © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038