"Go all the way!"

When they called me names

Daddy taught me how to box

"Be ready to fight,

But if you can, walk away,

If you can't, go all the way"

The arts help us through the darkest hours. Tanka, is a longer version of Haiku, with two additional lines of 7 syllables, so 5-7-5-7-7. Write to re-member, connecting the dots, making meaning of your life journey!

Mine is about how my Irish father trained me in boxing, cautioning me that the best way was to avoid fighting if possible, and I became skillful at that. But if it was unavoidable, I was to confront the enemy knowing that I might lose but warning them that I would not go down easily, and they would be hurt. In the ring in my first fight I pummeled the kid who started crying when he saw his blood splattered on his white t-shirt. After the other boys saw that life became a lot easier on the street.