Before on guard,
you meet your opponent
on the strip
without your mask
and hold your sword
between your eyes—
a salute—before
you drop the sword
and don the mask.
How much of the match
is fought in the gaze?
There are ways
to attack and riposte
when the body
is achingly still.
It’s a glint, a squint,
an unblinking hold.
It’s a stare, a glare,
a flash. I’ve felt it before—
known that it was all over
before it began.
But we pull on the mask
anyway, prepare
to engage, though already
we know how this goes—
who wins, and who
walks away wondering
how next time, next time
it could be different.
* Repechage: the competition formula which gives losers of a direct elimination bout a second chance to stay in the competition