A tribute to the improbable dreams of valiant men in a rough sport.
In this striking poetry collection, Red Shuttleworth, who holds the record as the oldest active boxer (professional or amateur), offers evocative imagery that unapologetically reveals the life of a boxer. From the inspiring hopes of an early career to agonizing defeats, the poems in Eclipse of the Sun take readers on a journey from moderate successes to the realization that a dream of a promising future has become the reality of the long haul of a journeyman. Along the way, Shuttleworth rubs elbows with greats like Muhammad Ali, Chickie Ferrara, and Ron Lyle, exposing the resolute path and difficult end of a hard-lived life.
This collection is an homage to boxing at its grittiest levels, and to fighters who persevere—with hope, blood, and bone—against sense and loss. Few professional boxers earn a living in the ring, and even fewer arrive in their forties with any money left from their sport. In this collection, boxers attain poverty rather than riches, end up in post-career menial jobs, and have no pension plan to fall back on. Shuttleworth’s poetry is a visceral inside look at the brutality and humanity at the heart of boxing.
Have Fists Will Bang, Mackenzie, British Columbia
Nature's Course
The Dog Knows Winter Is Coming
The Boxer on Canvas
Prince George, BC, Canada: Four-Round Bout
The Dog in the Cemetery
Against the Sky on a Ridge
Racing Our Seasons
All-Night Prince George Waffle House. . .Taking Rest
Polished Walnut Coffin
A Few Flakes of Snow Collapse
Evening at Crooked River, BC
Hurricane, Eddie, Benny, Sonny, and Woody Woodpecker
Hurricane Jackson
Eddie Machen
New York '58. . .Benny Kid Paret Takes Up Residence at an Efficiency Hotel
The Farm
Construction Sites. . .Blocked Sidewalks. . .Pedestrian Detours
Sometimes You Win. . .Big
You're Dead When They Cut the Gloves Off
Watching the Bout on TV, Benny Kid Paret's Two-Year-Old Son Screamed: Papa. . .Papa. . .Papa. . .
You the Better Man?
Precise Jabs, a Hook to His Ribs
Three Days Beyond Leotis Martin vs. Sonny Banks
Woody Woodpecker
Hospital Bed in a Living Room
Ron Lyle vs. Muhammed Ali
Carrying the Baggage
South. . .A Mile Short of True Vegas
Roadwork, Six Miles with Ron Lyle in Las Vegas, at the Dunes Golf Course, a Few Days Prior to Lyle's World Championship Bout with Muhammed Ali
The Workhouse
Lyle vs. Ali, Tenth Round
A Taped Jump Rope Dangles in the Night Gym
Not a Contender, a Journeyman
Night Train
Spokane
Faith, Whirligig, Damnation
Extra Blanket
Union City, Tennessee, Six Rounds
Holy Mass for Broken Hands
Flash a Smile and Keep Walking
Eclipse of the Sun
Visits with Joanna
Peppermint Go-Go Ancient Diary
Overgrown Memory
Night Watchman. . .One-Eyed Attack Dog Mutt
Last Day of Summer
Sparring in a Cold Showers Gym
January Roadwork: Watery, Red Eyes
The Further Days
Afterlife Road
Low Rounds. . .High-Intensity Workout
Dementia Pugilistica
After I Die. . .
Acknowledgments
About the Author
