by Jefferson Hansen
because we should be scrawny and sensitive and smoking cigarettes
because we should look like we could blow away in a slight breeze
because we are uptight and have a high metabolism, anyway
because we are so smart we see through all the jock bullshit
because we consider line breaks more important than breaking personal bests
because we are too sensitive for the dank odor there
because our vocabulary intimidates our gym mates and we don't know how those guerrillas will take it out on us
because we take no pleasure in slamming barbells to the floor after a set and saying, "ahhhh"
because all poets are alike and none of us like gyms
because gym people appreciate neither irony nor onomatopoeia
because gym people grin big and smug even when insecure in a manner determined to put us in our place
because, after Descartes, we value the bodiless mind over the soma
because exercise hurts our delicate bodies
because, except for Charles Olson, male poets should not be big, and female poets, if they are big, can be so only naturally or through imbibing
because we prefer talking to doing
because poets prefer pretty versifying to bristling brawn
2 comments:
This is absolutely why I do not go. I do like to shout our "ahhh" when I power lift a golden stanza from my flabby unconscious, but I don't think that counts.
Oscar,
But aren't stanzas awfully heavy? Especially those you write, with all that turgid terminology and slam-heavy meter?
Jeff
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