Poetry View by Sam Pierstorff
The Road to Mt. Midoriyama by Sam Pierstorff, #NinjaWarriorPoet
If you want to be an American Ninja Warrior then wait. Wait until you are out of the shadows of your twenties when you hid in bars and libraries and went to bed drunk on poetry. Wait until your thirties, until you marry the woman of your dreams, until you are a tenured professor with children whose eyes brighten the future. Now, watch them grow, coach their teams, become dizzy as they run circles around you.
You haven’t done a push-up in years, but today, with three kids on your back, you push yourself harder than you ever have before.
You rise and realize it’s not the weight you lift that makes you strong. It’s the weight you carry inside— a thousand pounds of love and experience and heartbreak—but you are still standing. You’re nearly forty now and the wait is over. There are no obstacles in front of you greater than those you have already overcome. So reach out, grab a rope like it’s your daughter’s hand. Hold on tight. Let the sound of your son’s voice lift you, “You can do it, Dad.” Focus. Balance. Stay strong.
And when you face that final wall, warped and sky-high, do not be intimidated. You will get to the top if you keep trying— or maybe in that moment you will realize you’re already there.
