Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Illustrate the meaning of “Don’t Try to Walk before You Can Crawl” (without using the actual phrase or literal example). (01/17/08)
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TITLE: Losing It! | Previous Challenge Entry
By Melanie Kerr
01/23/08 -
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And swears she hears them sigh
The needle spins and settles on
A weight obscenely high
“I’ve got big bones,” she tells the scales
But knows that it’s a lie
And if the scales could answer back
“Aye right,” they would reply.
It’s time to staunch the greedy flow
Of cakes and chocolate bars
To put away the greasy chips
And peanut butter jars
She clears the fridge of fattening food
She waves the cheese goodbye
She makes a list of salad stuff
And things she can stir fry
She measures each ingredient
With thorough measured care
The plate that used to overflow
Now looks distinctly bare
She finds a coiled skipping rope
That’s hidden in a drawer
The cellophane is still in place
It’s not been used before
She hops and jumps and twirls the rope
Sweat like a river pours
Her heart beat thumping in her breast
She valiantly ignores
Two minutes done she has to stop
She feels so faint and weak
“There must be better ways”, she thinks
“To rescue my physique!”
A DVD has fearless claims
“To smooth the thighs and bum”
It promises in half an hour
To flatten out your tum!
A stick-thin lass in lycra shorts
Cavorts upon the screen
With kicks and jumps that demonstrate
A flawless fit routine
One beat behind and waddling through
Confused by left and right
Her limbs will not cooperate
Her tracksuit feels too tight
A pile of letters rest upon
The open ironing board
A health club makes a promise that
Just cannot be ignored
“Just sign along the dotted line
And fitness can be yours
From dawn till dusk each single day
We open up our doors”
With “oars” in hand she rows her “boat”
Along an unseen shore
She cycles miles of unseen roads
And finds it quite a chore
Up and down an “alpine pass”
The treadmill trundles on
She rushes home, climbs on the scales
A mere eight ounces gone!
Into her swimming costume then
She pours her ample form
Perhaps a lap or two might help
Her body to transform
The water smells of chlorine and
The children splash and play
Each time she launches out to swim
A man gets in her way
She splashes through the water with
A slow and sluggish pace
Dreaming of the medal won
In some Olympic race
The week goes by, and finally ends
A fraught and fretful time
Into a chocolate wrapper she
Would dearly love to climb
Perhaps like in the good old days
There’s too much on her plate
A careful measured plan she thinks
Might better shift the weight
Just implement a single change
Not eight or nine or ten
And if by chance she falters then
She could just start again!
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Personally, I would have appreciated some more conventional punctuation.
Great poem. Perfect for this time of year.
Really, really good poem--I loved every stanza.
My fav line:
The week goes by, and finally ends
A fraught and fretful time
Into a chocolate wrapper she
Would dearly love to climb
Darling. Convicting.