17 September 2023

By Philip Kuepper

Waves gather like drama queens
about to break into song.
Waves take a deep concerted breath,
and break against the rowers
whose strokes complement the waves’ voices:
soprano, alto, tenor, bass.
(Waves all as one sing coloratura.)
There is something of the bass
in deep, slow strokes,
something of the tenor
in quick, deft ones.
Then all of a sudden strokes are almost
soprano-like in clarity.
They break the glass waves.
The drama lies in the fact,
anything can happen at any minute.
Waves are a medium where
everything is happening
all at once all the time.
It is that rowers must meet,
and row through,
survive the climax,
and glide to denouement.
And the curtain falls to applause,
or so it is hoped.

(1 September 2023)