Sunday, 7 February 2010

re POEM 15

Training begins

Crook back (made worse
with a two-hour vacuuming
spree yesterday), seethes
in pain, a gravelly crunch,
fierce with each step along
Salford Quays canal pathway.

The metallic scent of white
gulls lined along a jetty
and seaweed-coated debris,
momentarily distracts ache
settled at the seat of my spine.
I exhale, turn slightly and catch

the gaze of a man with a bullish
face and heavy-rimmed frames
nursing a fishing tackle. He nods,
bends to fix his stare on the rods
splayed around his Wellington boots.

Again, I inhale, push my form
forward, resist the temptation
to pause or teeter to a halt; ‘no
pain, no gain’, I clutch this familiar
mantra knowing I must endure three
months of training for the event in May.

Catherine Mark

2 comments:

Sarah Siwicki said...

ooof I think I got a twinge in my back just from reading that! This reminds me that I should really be at the gym and not curled up with my laptop on a sagging cough. I wonder what sort of exercises could be done while blogging, hold a lunge position for a verse or two? Haha. Loved your imagery, as always, all of my senses were quite entertained.

gerry boyd said...

Nice, and a metaphor, I thought, for your current writing effort also. Best music for me was this line:

" along Salford Quays canal pathway."