25 August 2024

By Philip Kuepper

Rowers manning shells
are reminiscent of dolphins,
long, slender, slipping
through water, effortlessly,
penetrating liquid material,
as though they are
of the very material
they are slipping through.
Were dolphins to swim
alongside rowers, they would
act as natural coxes,
easing them into a rhythm,
pacing them, helping them
measure their strokes.
Dolphins out in the open ocean
have been known
to race beside boats at their prows,
as though to encourage sailors
ever onward in their journeys.
I can see in my mind
a transformation happening,
rowers transforming
into dolphins as they row,
swift, slender bodies taken
by the very element
they are rowing through.
They become silk on silk.

(8 July 2024)