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.