A POEM by AJ MAIORANA

Bar Fight

I am bones and cartilage

and six shots of vodka

I am a turned away lover

and a dead-end day job

I am calloused skin

a sideways look

and adrenaline spikes

I am “I’ve had it up to here”

and a bad day

always seems to get worse

I am the wrong night

at the wrong place

and, like I said

seven shots of vodka

I am: I haven’t fought since I was twenty-five

and I am looking to see if it’s just like riding a bike

Because I am blood and sweat

and my mother’s short temper

I am over-reaction (1,2,3)

and inhibition (4,5,6)

and trying (7)

to remember (8)

what I learned (9)

in anger management

I am improvised weaponry

sugar glass memories

shouting crowds

and splintered wood

and theatrics

I am: going to make myself feel

better even if it will make us both feel worse.

I am skin on skin

and opening wounds

and definitely not a metaphor

I am fight

and fight

and fight

---

AJ Maiorana (He/Him) is the non-fiction editor for JAKE and has published work in Gutslut Press, Bulb Culture Collective, and Mr. Bull Bull. He is a one-time Pushcart Prize nominee. You can find him on Twitter.