Sean Battle
In-Ring Psychology
1996: Goldust defended the WWE Intercontinental Championship against the Undertaker
There’s no easy manipulation here;
Gold confetti coming down on the fans-
The champion, suit and face all in gold,
takes off his long blond wig. No movement
from his opponent—not even perplexed
looks. Just a face pale as fog, eyes stern
like gun barrels: How can flamboyant gold
win against a giant who wears the colors
of mourning? Still, he tries to size up
all seven feet of this monster. The crowd jeers,
Get on with the God damn fight Goldie. Finally,
he goes for his signature taunt- breath sucked
through his black lipstick mouth- and the giant’s
glove rocks his throat. The crowd erupts.
This is what they came for: Theatrics
by men who knew how to sell their bodies.
Born in Camden, NJ, Sean Battle is the combination of an ambitious mother and WWE Pay-Per Views. He is an MFA Graduate student for poetry at Rutgers-Newark, and received his BA in English at Rutgers-New Brunswick, where he was President of the Verbal Mayhem Poetry Collective. Poems have been published in journals such as Borderline, Radius: Poetry from the Center of the Edge, and The Legendary, as well as written and performed for the Raices Cultural Center production, Spirit of the Drum: History and Evolution of a Caribbean tradition. He resides in Newark, NJ as an Adjunct Instructor for Humanities at Essex County College. For more information go to www.seeseanbattle.tumblr.com/
In-Ring Psychology
1996: Goldust defended the WWE Intercontinental Championship against the Undertaker
There’s no easy manipulation here;
Gold confetti coming down on the fans-
The champion, suit and face all in gold,
takes off his long blond wig. No movement
from his opponent—not even perplexed
looks. Just a face pale as fog, eyes stern
like gun barrels: How can flamboyant gold
win against a giant who wears the colors
of mourning? Still, he tries to size up
all seven feet of this monster. The crowd jeers,
Get on with the God damn fight Goldie. Finally,
he goes for his signature taunt- breath sucked
through his black lipstick mouth- and the giant’s
glove rocks his throat. The crowd erupts.
This is what they came for: Theatrics
by men who knew how to sell their bodies.
Born in Camden, NJ, Sean Battle is the combination of an ambitious mother and WWE Pay-Per Views. He is an MFA Graduate student for poetry at Rutgers-Newark, and received his BA in English at Rutgers-New Brunswick, where he was President of the Verbal Mayhem Poetry Collective. Poems have been published in journals such as Borderline, Radius: Poetry from the Center of the Edge, and The Legendary, as well as written and performed for the Raices Cultural Center production, Spirit of the Drum: History and Evolution of a Caribbean tradition. He resides in Newark, NJ as an Adjunct Instructor for Humanities at Essex County College. For more information go to www.seeseanbattle.tumblr.com/
