Ode to the canopener* (*lethal roller derby block)

The canopener
With its bruised heart
Dressed up like a legal hit,
Wind-up aggression, it flaunts
A small helmet
Under its shoulder blade
It remains
Unmatched,
Cracking sternums

By its side
The lazy hip hits
A ticked checkmark
Their love handled smack
Throbbing bones,
A lateral sweep of wheel,
A brief seat on thigh
Forcing out, not down.

The transitional hit,
Opposite direction attack,
An illegal head-butt threat,
Shoulder to collarbone smack,
Easy miss to high block major
Penalty backfire.

In the bag of derby tricks,
The shoulder check
With its elbow pad Velcro rash
And matched bruises,
If a meeting of elbows,
Minors called out
To the numbers on arms
Piling up to become trips
To the box

And the sweet legal canopener
succeeds there in the pack
Thrown like a dirty curveball
Making close enough contact
To tattoo its stitches on skin.