Bodybuilding
Admit no one wants to be worshipped.
This is not about worship
in the temple of the body
when the temple is the body.
Admit this is not about vanity.
This is not about vanity
if the thing you chose to love
is already beautiful.
Admit there is nothing sexual
in this. There is nothing sexual
in the passion of stoics.
Admit the days are prescribed
as if days could be otherwise–
Breast, flank, arms, shank.
Meat
of each eremitic day.
Feast on life
with the shakes–
Admit this is a test.
This is a test
of the things you bear, the weight you lift
and sweat a testament of grace.
The heart is a strong muscle.
Zhuang Yusa lives in Singapore. His poetry has been published in Sargasso (Puerto Rico), ditch (Canada), The Toronto Quarterly, Ganymede, The Los Angeles Review, Softblow, nth position and elsewhere. He is one of the founding editors of Walnut Literary Review (www.walnutliteraryreview.net).
Admit no one wants to be worshipped.
This is not about worship
in the temple of the body
when the temple is the body.
Admit this is not about vanity.
This is not about vanity
if the thing you chose to love
is already beautiful.
Admit there is nothing sexual
in this. There is nothing sexual
in the passion of stoics.
Admit the days are prescribed
as if days could be otherwise–
Breast, flank, arms, shank.
Meat
of each eremitic day.
Feast on life
with the shakes–
Admit this is a test.
This is a test
of the things you bear, the weight you lift
and sweat a testament of grace.
The heart is a strong muscle.
Zhuang Yusa lives in Singapore. His poetry has been published in Sargasso (Puerto Rico), ditch (Canada), The Toronto Quarterly, Ganymede, The Los Angeles Review, Softblow, nth position and elsewhere. He is one of the founding editors of Walnut Literary Review (www.walnutliteraryreview.net).
