Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Run For Your Life

I’m on the treadmill.
I’m keeping a steady pace.
I’m regulating my breathing.
I am enhancing focus.
It feels good. It feels good to be moving,
Running toward my future,
Soaring into the clouds
Where the air is thin;
I enter a state of subdued consciousness
Everything gray and silent –
Distant steps. Distant breaths.

I’m on the treadmill.
I’m bounding forward triumphantly
Counting the calories as they stream off me
Kissing them goodbye and moving on
Rain and debt, steam and stress
Clouds of dust and regret
Kicked off into my hazy past.
I have a date with perfection.
That phantom who stands me up again
And again so that I eat alone, I sleep alone
And here I am running alone.

I’m on the treadmill.
I’m being pursued by something.
I’m running faster, swallowing short
Violent breaths into miniature lungs,
Rubber arms, doughy legs, Barreling down this
Imaginary line. A terrified sprint, A fevered gallop,
Fleeing the giant question mark, the cold shadow,
Nipping at my tripping heels and plodding thoughts.
Anchored by this foreign machine,
I scamper in place while my greatest fears
wait patiently, calmly for me to run out of breath.