Kotegaeshe
by Gail
Note: Kotegaeshe (coat-ah-guy-sh, three syllables, emphasis on the last) is a wrist technique in aikido, and if you do it to your opponent too quickly, you can break the person's wrist. I came close. Somehow it was my favorite.
The first technique I learned well enough
to use, I used often. My partners on the mat
were indulgent as I threw them once, twice,
three times, wanting to encourage me.
After a few months, they began their corrections:
not so hard, you could break my wrist.
But I continued. I knew that I was doing it right.
Finally it took over my dreams, my sharp-
featured enemy always stupid enough to fall for the friendliness
as I took him, trapped him in so much pain that he had
to give up, and in the wonder of unreality, I won.
So wonderfully that, even though I stopped training years ago,
I keep myself still ready for that perfect moment,
if and when it comes. Grab my wrist, I think
on the street when I see someone who looks like him,
on the elevator, the subway, the shadows in my kitchen.
Let me show you what I really am.
My hand slides over his; he falls.
And stays down.
