Reviewed by Raquel Thorne
Poetry
Paperback: 75 pages
Publisher: Main Street Rag (2014)
Available at Main Street Rag
November 13, 1982. Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini and Kim Duk-koo, two lightweight boxers, meet outside of Ceasars Palace for the title bout. In his hotel room, Kim has scrawled, “Live or Die” on his lampshade; Mancini has declared war. What follows changes boxing rules forever.
In Temporary Champions, Demaree takes the reader step-by-step through the match, the men, the crowd, interlacing his text the match’s tragic endings.
Meet Kim:
& though he was sure it was destiny, to kill or be killed, he never feared Mancini or death, he feared his mother’s arrival at his defeat. This rough love lent him to both worlds.
Meet Mancini:
Light rapped the fists of the fighter’s son, the shred of his bone turning him into a bull with horns, an Ohioan fully present out of Ohio & boisterous, still pretty enough know the pierce of his skin would be scarring
Sit with the crowd:
thrilled to watch the sacrifice, the weekend animal thrown in the ring, cast about upon the sea of other flesh, of cheering hands of half-humans, watchers.
And consider the fight:
Marked time, fire to fire, the consumption of fire by fire, a creation of fear & no fear, the voiding of fear, a whole world built on hip swivel, shoulder strength, hip dealing, squaring weight to jaw, extending luminosity to jaw & big, risky dealings of spirit
While not every poem in Temporary Champions is a sure-fire hit, overall the collection rings true. Demaree is not just a simple bystander in Kim and Mancini’s fight, retelling its glory and its tragedy, but slowly writes himself into the story, willingly inviting his reader to share his rubber-neck horror. Reading Temporary Champions, I felt myself similarly unable to look away, and found it a quick, enthralling read.
Temporary Champions is a poetry collection for boxing fans, for those who love creative non-fiction, or who are willing to explore themselves as part of the crowd.
I can think of no greater activity for demonstrating the breadth of greatness, of awful dances, never to be forgotten, than the history of boxing.
Darren C. Demaree lives in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and children. He is the author of three poetry collections: As We Refer to Our Bodies (8th House, 2013), Temporary Champions (Main Street Rag, 2014), and Not For Art Nor Prayer (8th House, 2015). He is the recipient of three Pushcart Prize nominations and a Best of the Net nomination. Recently Darren’s work has appeared in fine places such as Cactus Heart, Danse Macabre, and Delmarva Review. For more about Darren, visit his blog or follow him on twitter @d_c_demaree
