Alarm bells ring at 5 AM
Fingers fuzzily fumble for the snooze
But then relinquish the covers
Before the bell sings again
It is not bells to whom we reply
But rather it is…
The call of the Y
We shuffle through its doors
Mumble hellos through unbrushed teeth
Or maybe just nod
Clang our lockers
And done our battle gear
Uncombed hair
Is pulled back in pony tails
Tucked under swim caps
Plastered to our skulls
We commence
Sleepy brains count yards
And strokes
And strokes per x amount of yards
They count heartbeats and measure miles
And calculate minutes per mile
Slope-intercept form ready
We reach and we pull
We lengthen our stride
Extend our reach
We work and we sweat
All accompanied by
the heavy (morning) breath symphony
Sixty minutes and many heartbeats later
We reunite in the locker room
Gone are the trudging drones with messy hair
The Y has worked its magic
Our smiles are exuberant
Our bodies lithe
Our greetings and exchanges
Charged with the electricity of
Endorphins
We spring out through Y doors
In school clothes
In work suits
Our rouged cheeks and lips
Curled into satisfied smiles
That leak out
And meld with the sunshine
Cuz underneath it all
We carry the Y factor
We know the secret
Underneath it all
We are bone and tissue
well-toned muscle
chlorine-tinged skin
and steadily-beating heart.
7 comments:
TT + swimming = happiness :)
Sounds like getting up at 5 AM was definitely worth it!
This makes me want to sign up to swim at my local Y. I love the way you sling verbs and string nouns.
So well put. There is definitely something about the Y in the morning. It's a weirdly magical little place, isn't it?!
nice stuff again....
love getting that early swim in.
check out www.helium.com you could post your poems there..maybe even earn some cash.....
I like swimming in teh morning before work. I can always smell the chlorine all day and it reminds me of what I have accomplished.
Well said!
As hard as it is to get up the morning, you are exactly right.
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