Perilous Fight

Terence Kuch

You know the rules come

out fighting at the bell guard

yourselves at all times no

hitting below the belt stop

fighting at the bell when I tell

you to break, break clean

Keep your fist in his face

until he

bleeds and wants you dead

Whisper in the clinch

he’s not a man

and likes it up his ass

Pretend you want to kill him

and then

pretend you don’t

And now

our national

anthem

Terence Kuch’s creative writing credits include Commonweal, New York Magazine, North American Review, Thema, Timber Creek Review, and Washington Post Book World.

He has studied fiction and drama writing at the Writers Center, Bethesda, Maryland, and participated in the Mid-American Review Summer Fiction Workshop.