went to the gym
in my brand new addidas trainers
white Primark socks
black short-sleeved M&S shirt
blue JC Sport shorts
spent 3 minutes
on the stationary bike
1 mile
watching the C4 weather forecast
gusts of 90mph sweeping over the Pentland Firth
2 minutes on the rowing machine
watching the weight-lifting slip of a girl
with a blue and red tattoo
on her left shoulder
expand contract expand contract
15 calories
2 minutes on the slalom exerciser
with a view from the window
of passing students leaning into the wind and the rain
then sit-ups sitting down on my favourite
the red medicine ball
5 10 20 25 30 35 40 42
enough enough
then the abdominal exerciser
then the lower-back exerciser
the outer-thigh exerciser
the inner-thigh exerciser
then the torture of the tedious treadmill
5 final furious minutes
heart-rate 110
watch the Vermeer girl with the white earphones
ignore the left calf pain
Slap Slap Slap Slap Slap
42 calories
enough
Slap Slap Slap Slap Slap Slap
enough enough enough
10 minutes showering
drying
dressing
pause to watch the girl with the tattoo
then out through the revolving door
into the wind
into the rain
clean
purified
virtuous
reinvented.
