Enter and stand
Enter, leap at, roaring
Back slowly off
Roar, shake arm, roll on back
Eat earth, throw rocks
Rush at and past opponent
Avoid, show back
Leap at opponent’s back
Miss
Return
(Without looking) avoid
Turn to face opponent
Catch head with rear hand (without looking)
strike head with forearm
Rise, stagger, roll on back
Roar, shake arm, leap on head
Avoid, back off
Roar, pursue
Leap at roaring
Grasp head with forearm
flick rear arm in arc
strike downward blow
Sag, moan, rise
leap and crush in bear hug
lift in air
Draw dagger
Stab in chest
Fall on back
Die
Advance calmly, inspect corpse
Back off
Basic fighting movements: a section of the perang kembang (flower battle) from a puppeteer’s handbook for the study of wayang kulit or Javanese shadow play. As found in On Thrones of Gold, ed. James Brandon, (Hawaii 1993). Submitted by Grace Andreacchi.
Verbatim Poetry 