Aminishiki
old balding sumo bastard
of perseverance
made makuuchi debut
back in the year two thousand
spent years that level,
no championship wins, but
two times runner-up
fourth best of all-time in terms
of top level tournaments
two years back though, tore
his left Achilles tendon -
withdrew… demoted
scrappy fucker even at
advanced age never gave up
battled fourteen months
at juryo, still consistent,
fighting spirit strong
last november, at
age thirty-nine, he returned
to makuuchi
he faired well, earning his
kachikoshi (just barely)
but the new year has
not been kind to our elder
sumo rikishi
knees wrapped in ace bandages,
thickened with supportive gauze
now in third decade
of sumo wrestling, those knees
have carried much weight
real and metaphysical,
how much can one man sustain?
day five, we see our
hero Aminishiki
hobbled, with one win
Chiyonokuni is not
a top-level superstar
Aminshiki
struggled but held for a while,
then tragedy struck
the right knee discontinued what
it was created to do
Aminishiki
buckled into the dohyo
sand, clutching that knee
Chiyonokuni checks in,
sensing something had gone wrong
the aging balding
rikishi, pushing forty,
couldn’t climb back up
he limped to the locker room,
gone fusenhai, with one win
a few more basho,
he would’ve been second in
most appearances
now though, his future in doubt,
contemplating elder stock
