10 August 2025

By Philip Kuepper

Rowers are shellfish.
I smile at the thought.
They are grit
worked into pearls.
And strung in a row
as they sit and row,
they make a necklace.
They are cultured,
results of the better schools,
which fact lends them
to the thought of being schools
of oysters. Do oysters school?
Or are they always
individual swimmers?
If they are always the latter,
then, reader, indulge me,
and allow my metaphor school them
long enough to make necklace of,
and row as a team.
After all, rowers can be
pearls of athletes.

(2 August 2025)