Beetlebung and Kettlehole--April Poems

On the Ice

                   News: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2018/04/08/stanley-cup-playoffs-schedu...

On NBC Sports channel,
Stanley Cup Playoffs today!

As an odd-man rush,
memory trails back, far-away, when
to support a five-year-old
on his first time on ice,
I stood wobbly on the glistening ground
until his skating teacher arrived,
while feeling like a seduced butterfly
dangling on the side-rail of
the attacking zone,
in Superior Ice Rink, Kingspark.

Challenged by lights hovering above
like praying raptors, I tried
to slide a step or two, and
slashed the ice, falling, searing
my skin as if in a pantomime play
or a speculative Olympic act.
Later, for the first time
power play on his side,
my son declared to his dad
“Mommy broke all the ice.”

How such moments turn a heart
to a warm shelter, and how
things change on the fly
and we crash and faceoff
on the edge of ice, full-strength
goals, penalties, years
then freeze the puck!


Hockey terminology: odd-man rush, butterfly, attacking zone, power play, change on the fly, dangle, faceoff, goal, penalty, full-strength, freezing the puck

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Prompt: respond to the news (Rattle, Poets Respond) https://www.rattle.com/respond/