Training Day

Antony Copland

Antony Copland

Age 18+ category | Spring into Poetry Contest 2025 | San José Public Library

Training Day 
 
I can do this in my sleep, Having you reread it for 52 straight weeks on repeat, Bench pressing rhymes, So check the physique, Pulling the pen from my pocket, like a sword in a sheath, There's so many tricks up my sleeve, They'll be coming at you, Excused me I sneezed, Life gives you the seeds, To nourish into palm trees, Nobody said that this life was a breeze, No matter how many times you say please, Begging on your knees, Until the universe agrees, In this life, There are no guarantees, Just a little tease of something greater, To keep your mind at ease, It will at least try to cater to your needs to remain in your favor, Just long enough to enjoy the fruits of your labor, Sometimes I feel like a Jedi with a lightsaber, Changed so many lives that they began calling me a life saver, I was O and 1, But comebacks are in my nature, And if it's 1-1, the next one will be the tiebreaker, A name like mine is made for the top billing, I'll maintain it until I shatter the ceiling, The art of rhyming is becoming addicting, But these lines will hit you harder than any prescription, They got you drifting, In and out of consciousness while your brain is sprinting, Let your mind do the steering, And your spirit do the knitting, All that pain you've been persevering, Will one day be disappearing, No more interfering, Tearing up every night, Without anybody hearing, The more you fight, The less room for any fearing, Even if you go down swinging with three strikes like your spark is dimming. This is Training Day. Keep on earning your stripes, Until the day the angels greet you with bagpipes, And they hand you the mic, Telling you to recite as many bars as you like, It's open mic night for the rest of your eternal life, When it's time to heal the damages, Done to the soul and left it in bandages, Turning the kindest hearts into savages, Until you enjoy it too much and become a masochist, You can only change the world if you begin crafting it, I was down on my luck, And still won on aggregate, I stumbled over this art by accident, One day, the rhymes were no longer passionate, The cabinet of sacrilege made me the antagonist while being the main contaminant, Here comes an outsider to take up an inhabitance, They made me an offer to leave in a coffin or an ambulance, With brass knuckles to your clavicle or your thalamus, Before throwing me in a pit like Lazarus, At the mercy of the supernatural, Using my soul as collateral, With demons throwing laterals, I aim to reach a level that's unsurpasable, Anything less is laughable, Give me a pen and pad and the result is magical, I'm a natural. This is Training Day. Ever since I picked up a pen and a paper, Writing became my zen - Second nature, Here comes the caped crusader in his black Batscraper. I'm chasing the spotlight, Shining bright like the bat signal, Up in the sky, Is that a bird flying high, Nah, it looks like a missile carved with my initials, Aimed straight at the Matrix system, Primed for demolition, I opened my phone and provided facial recognition, Granting permission to my commander to commence with the mission, Then the transition team began the transmission where we laid out of our conditions, They said we had a mole, and we had our suspicions, That's when I gave them a proposition, Turn them in to us and we'll begin their expedition, Refusal to comply will be met with a strike of one hundred percent precision, They laughed at us and said we lacked the conviction, It appears that you need some convincing. Any hope that you're clinging to will soon be disappearing, We're nearing midnight but this clock won't come with cheering, Just God fearing, Knowing that the end is nearing, I can see a tomahawk just ahead in the clearing. It's time take this training up a notch, Before the mission gets botched, Grab the stopwatch, Start the clock and assemble your weapon, 60 seconds to complete your drill sessions, Then it's on to the final lesson. This was Training Day. 
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