The Innisfree Poetry Journal

www.innisfreepoetry.org

by Jean Tupper

IN A TRANCE AT THE Y

I’m riding my bike   my stationary bike
and staring at one of the hanging TVs
turn off the words  turn off the sound
the weather CNN
churning over my head
turn off the women pedaling next to me
don’t want to hear   don’t want to know
the tumor the biopsy
all the whispered words

from here I can’t reach
can’t turn off As the World Turns
nobody asks if I want it or not
they’re kissing again
No! she slaps him in the face
I don’t care but can’t look away
he doesn’t understand  
why her pain   how the baby
comes into it now   what it’s like
to be tossed away like trash

the twisted lady
has finished her hip abductions
and moved on to the pectoral fly
the gum-popper
is back on the treadmill
and the thin man
with pelted chest and arms
sweats profusely on the elliptical
                             
I don’t really know anyone here
only that his name is Ralph
and the one with tattoos is an ex-Marine
we use the same machines
row the same compound row
give the equipment a good wipe
there’s a lot of skin showing
but nobody touches   


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