the bump in poetry

in professional wrestling
they call the act of getting actually hit
but exaggerating it while
also trying to not actually get hurt
they call that
“taking a bump”

a trust fall is easy
when there’s someone there
you can expect to trust
a trust fall is harder
when you’re supposed to hit the ground
but make it look like you weren’t supposed to
while at the same time
trying to minimize how much it will hurt you
in the long run
sometimes in life
there’s trust falls
with no one to trust you have to make
sometimes in life
there’s bumps you have to take
the only question is
how can you make it hurt less than it could?
you can’t stop the show
you have to make it look good
you have to take the bump

in life sometimes
you gotta take the chair to the face
just absorb as much with your hands as you can
sometimes you need to stumble down and flat
try to land on the part of your ass where its fat
try to stretch out your arms
spread the trauma across the widest part of your back
tuck your head so your skull probably won’t crack
fake a loud crash against the wood panels below
take the bump good
try not to die
on with the show

you’re going to fall
you knew that you would
all you can do is try not to get hurt
all you can do is try to make it look good
maybe taking the minimal lumps
but sometimes you gotta
just take that bump