Synecdoche is by Catherine Louise Taylor, exploring fitness culture in a witty, insightful take. We hope you enjoy Synecdoche.
A pair of lungs on the treadmill.
Bouncing flesh balloons
squeezed into purple trainers,
ready to pop.
Blown up by burning breath
And the determination to be ‘skinny’;
sucked back out by exhaustion.
A bicep lifting a dumbbell.
Beefy muscles push red-hot veins
To the surface,
Turgid and desperate
To excite a very specific body part
Of the woman to his left.
A group of glutes at the squat rack.
Squeezing themselves so tightly that
Their circulation might
Stop;
Praying to Kim Kardashian
That the searing pain
Will add an extra inch.
A six-pack of abs on the floor.
Spread apart,
Then crunched together,
The grinding gears of an unstoppable
Machine
Fed by steroids
And the mantra
‘No carbs before Marbs’.
A heart on the rowing machine.
Pulling rigged handles and
Pushing towards cardiac arrest.
Close to bursting,
She stops for respite.
But only for one minute.
By Catherine Louise Taylor.