EXERCISE

James Moston

Rows of erect machines are humming as electricity pulses
through wiry veins. Your thighs burn like bonfires pushing
up and up and up. Your lungs fill with weight and static notes
as two pianos tinkle desperately to keep you breathing.

Mumbled conversations blend with music and the mechanical
heartbeats around you. The stink of sweat and protein-poisoned
breath cling inside your nasal nooks. Shrill laughter and coarse moans
dance like starlings through the metal skyline of this world.

A beautified danger catches you in the wall-length mirror
like a morsel in an eagle’s talons. Your heart thunders and sparks
like a line of luminous naked wire. You follow as he watches
as you wonder if he’ll wander with you on your way down.

The cubicle door clicks shut as he slips in stealthily behind
and coils his arms around you. The singeing water rushes over
the grime like a roaring flash flood. You close your eyes and bask
in the heat and artificial light like a reptile in restraints.

 

A ravenous viper glides against the steady current and slithers
through your opened burrow. The prize inside is pushed and prodded
’til it’s up against the wall. He thrusts to strike and spits his venom
to make you moan and groan and gush beyond control.