aquafit

I've received a number of thoughtful and generous emails and letters from readers of my book, and I've treasured them all. One of my favourites so far came from Vancouver-via-Ottawa-via-Netherlands-via-Germany-via-England poet Christopher Levenson, which included a poem Chris had written in response to my poem "Old Men at the Community Pool", which in turn was written in response to the epigraph to Wallace Stevens' "Evening Without Angels" by Mario Rossi: the great interests of man: air and light, the joy of having a body, the voluptuousness of looking.

Chris has agreed to let me share the poem here - hopefully it can inspire another poem by someone and keep the chain going:

Aquafit

Some antique ritual:
for an hour in the enormous sunlit pool
I am an anonymous token male
among a score of large elderly ladies
swaying like lily pads
to the pounding disco beat.
Our eyes are fixed on the instructor,
whose arms and legs lithe as a Hindu goddess
are showing us what to do.
Like trainee astronauts
we follow her in slow motion,
shedding our pounds, toning our muscles,
relishing weightlessness.


- Christopher Levenson

Photo Source