22 March 2026

By Philip Kuepper

The humming of the oars
hymn the rowers forward,
their backs to the direction they face.
Rowers go backwards toward
where they are going.
Reverse for them is drive.
(First comes meaning,
then the words to speak it.)
Consequence precedes act.
Only afterwards can the beginning happen.
The thing is done.
Now explain it.
A rower’s life is lived back to front,
their’s a hymn sung
from the end to the beginning.
By departing from the end
the rower arrives at the beginning.
The finish line is the start line.
The rower sees behind him
by looking forward.
The hymn the rowers sing
has already sung them,
and have already sung them
sings them forward backwards
through the oaring.

(15 March 2026)