Weight

After things in the world begin to seriously
     feel bound for hell in a handbasket, for months
I wallow in my inertia and can't seem to haul 
     myself out of bed to go to the gym. I feel 
the flabby parts of my body taking over the muscle
     I was trying to build, offering their soft jello 
lining under the waistband of my workout pants. But  
     it's the pain shooting from my right hip down 
to the knee and calf that forces me to go back; 
     the tightness in my legs, getting up in the morning.
Funny how this thing done with pulleys and dumb- 
     bells is called resistance training: resistance
meaning the capacity to oppose or withstand 
     an obstacle or impeding force, the biggest one
in this case being your own body— each day toting  
     its limbs and organs around, so long carrying 
brickloads of grief it's forgotten how to let go of.