Collaboration

An experiment in crowdsourced poetry. Add the next line in the comment section, below, building on other's contributions. Writer's block? Try beer. Or dark chocolate. Whatever works.


Limber, lithe, languorous and just a little louche

Doubt

Sunlight

Lumens every lump and wrinkle of

My practice

Lucidates my fears

The ruthless dawn

Encourages anxieties to

Chat me up at breakfast

Intimating that

If I were really

Always getting better, I'd be

Really good

By now

Even incremental progress would

Add up (they hint) and

Reach, at last, a

Tidy sum

From there, it's not too far to wonder

How much of my progress is

Illusion, clever sleight of

Coaching hand?

How much adept

Self-deception

Redefining goals and

Grading on a shifting curve?

I'm saved, at last, by dusk:

With moonrise inhibitions fall

And optimism swells

The kindly dark obscures my flaws

The gloom of pessimism makes it  hard to keep my goals in sight

That's why I pursue my praxis in the night

Summer Practice

Sweat exceeds the common sodden quota

Even my stodgy non-electric bib

Conducts

Socks creep down

Knickers giving way to shorts (the heat

More painful than the prospect of a bruise or two)

An increase in aestival truancy

Teammates disappear and re-emerge

Skin a searing bronze against their laundered uniforms

We horse around with silly moves unlikely to

Succeed in competition

But then again…they might

Lazy nights that end in talk of

Nothing much

Conversations I will treasure, and forget

Shavasana

Rest

So simple, yes?

Just doing

Nothing

Not exerting effort

Not attempting longer, harder

Better

Best

Not trying

(Come to think of it)

At all

Except

For me, the off switch is

A little out of reach

A little

Stiff

A little…

Face it, jammed in place and

Never going to move

I haven’t got a rheostat to

Ramp things down, a

Regulator set to

Cycle on and off

I know that I

Need down time, time to

Cool, recalibrate re

Charge

That doing nothing’s really when

Experience sinks in

An anabolic state of change

Frankly, letting go,

Cessation

Feels a little bit too much like

Death

I worry if I

Power down the engine won’t

Restart

So take it one step at a time, meticulous instructions

Breathe

Relax

Release 

Teammates

I don't learn alone

We practice in entangled states

Each move you master

Forces me to counter, ensuring

We progress at

Somewhat equal rates

Your prodding feet push me along

Your triumphs

Buoy me up your

Setbacks add to my

Determination

As I forge ahead you

Keep me grounded in

Reality

Puncturing pretense,

With ruthless informality

When you level up my

Jealousy is tempered by my

Pride

("See, that move? She worked on that so long!")

Knowing that I I helped in

My own minor way

In this commensal state

We take turns to study & to teach

Proving what is possible

Demonstrating what's within our reach

We're all of us interdependent

Remember that, when your star is ascendant

A Feline View of Fencing

Springs skitter

Alluringly across the floor to

Hide in cracks

Wire flips and twines and twirls

And tempts

Tape

Tastes like bubble gum, and

Salt

Shoelaces

Dragging back and forth in

Mousey patterns

This bag

Dark and deep, smells like

Laundry, and laps

Altogether, I approve

If only you weren’t gone so often, and so long

Depriving me of these lovely toys

Three Mantras

Don't dwell on mistakes

Worse, don’t try to set them right

Channel what feels good

Knowing I don't know

The root of what went wrong

Focus on the start

Think of puppies, kittens

Beer

Anything but "what to do"

Let the inner badger steer 

Displacement

Every time I fly I leave

A little bit of soul

Behind

Tucked beneath the covers

Snagged upon the roses' thorns

Folded in my sock drawer

It clings to domesticity like Cat

Clings to my sweater when I

Put him in the basement for the night

I love my routine,

Saluting sun from on my mat at

Dawn

Walking to the metro soaking up the

Grudging warmth of spring

Trekking to the salle and back in joy and

Disappointment

Injury and health

Contemplating candle flame

Counting breaths

Padding down the stairs for ice packs and

Up again to

Bed

Cradling my dreams

Each flight disrupts the

Flow distorts the

Shape and balance of my life

Distances me from

Momentary peace

Souls are tied to places, they aren't built to

Hurtle through the sky

Stationary objects, undisrupted, stay at rest and

So should I