Tekken 3

Enter...The Tekken...

In the Spring of 98

an anticipated rental,

for one reason or another

in the days of first cigarettes

and dreams of touching

developing breasts,

languished in the box all weekend

and returned to the video store

unopened and unplayed.

 

The final bell rang

on a junior high way of life,

releasing our limboed bodies

into a realm between child and adult.

Like the summer's before,

the days are remembered

by missed opportunities

and reinterpreted

to prevent sliding the barrel

into the mouth one final time.

yet one incident

needs no lies and self-serving imaginings.

a day when our ball sacks

clung to the inside leg

of our faded denim shorts

as we peddled spray painted bikes

through their final summer.

money earned

taught no life lessons

and was pissed away

as quickly as a drunk's comfort.

a standup display

attracted our easily impressed eyes,

so the wraithy hands of the merchants

slipped into our pockets

without us realizing the transaction.

the buyer's remorse

was short lived.

 

summer died not

in the forgotten fields

and slowly disapearring creeks

bordering the neighborhood,

but in my bedroom

while i mastered the ways

of men with tiger heads,

break dancing suckas,

bruce lee rip offs,

and a plethora of other characters

that grew with the sunset.

by the time the apples

grew heavy on the trees,

i had overthrown

the green Aztec god so often

one would think the land of apathy

was surely in sight of the mast.

for two and a half years,

immortality by video game standards,

the black disc found circulation

in the fantastic grey machine.

hours lost to the past

as high school seniors

turned to college freshmen,

or army privates,

still returned to battle

the familiar foes in the arena.

 

the flame would not be passed,

so the hand must be severed.

grey turned to black,

and with it came the betterment of perfection

in the form of bowling robots

and tag teaming gameplay.

but the true warriors

who played with such fervor and passion

that hats would fly into the night sky

refused to be tricked

by slicker visuals and exponentially enlarged rosters.

these truest gamers

stayed in the past,

aware of what i now realize.