The Wrestlers Funeral Poem by Oscar Mireles

The Wrestlers Funeral

Rating: 2.8


I still cannot remember the first name
of the funeral home but the second name
was Hooverman I think
and as I tried to follow the mapquest directions
I must have pressed scenic route
because it had enough twists
curves and large hills
and dips
to resemble living a hectic life

I remember the conversation
in Iowa last summer at the Regional Tournament
where he told me about his college wrestling career
being cut short
by his temper
and I shared
with him my one day, long hair
out of shape wrestling experience
at the college level
that brought back memories
of how hard wrestling really is

at his son's funeral he said
how awful nice it was
that I came and
that his son was such an awesome wrestler
but the only gauranteed
was that you didn't know
what he was going to do
or what the final result was going to be
but he went out there
and you prayed for the best

and his two medals
one from the Waunakee Youth tournament
and another one that looked like
a state qualifier medal laid
quietly on the coffin

but my other son
the younger one
worked so hard
at wrestling
and he has gotten so good
but even with all that work
he couldn't touch
how good his brother was

and as I reflected
on my two older sons
one with the natural talent
and the younger one who worked so hard I now know why.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Poetry Hound 17 May 2005

There's a lot of beauty and poigancy in this piece, Oscar - 'enough twists curves and large hills and dips to resemble living a hectic life' is a terrific line. I think I started getting just a tiny bit bored in the middle and especially toward the end because, in my opinion, you used too many words to convey your point and also because the words became too plain. You like to write in prose, and I think it's fine to write poetry in prose format but to be compelliing I think it still needs to be lyrical and have some kind of poetic flow and rhythm. But in general, I like this piece - interesting subject and interesting points you make.

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