I am utilizing all my force:

painstakingly,

patiently,

relentlessly.

Not easy to do with

simple bits of wood

and a table constantly tipped

by children at play

(not to mention the cat

hiding pawns

in the garden).

—For my zengzu, “Pin Lim”, who loved maneuvering cannon; his Filipino son “Timoteo Tayag Limpin”; and my Papa, “Lazaro Esguerra Limpin,” who was a guerrilla second lieutenant in World War II and rendered my first salute as a lieutenant of American infantry in Las Cruces, Nou Méxic, home of the Battling Bastards of Bata-an (“No Mama! No Papa! No Uncle Sam!”) ROTC Battalion, on December 1997.

“I never saw such a salute

as the salute of my Papa–

the way he snapped his hand up there

he might have broken his arm.”   –from my notes

Papa was 72.

Now 86, he is still teaching me a rare martial art known in his country as

sing me miike snow song*–“peacemaking through fighting“.

I am still learning the maneuvers:

painstakingly, patiently, relentlessly.

(Effortlessly

I am working on.)

*Animal (C) 2009 Downtown Music, LLC. Downtown Records is a trademark of Downtown Music, LLC.