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Beach Workout
A chilly morning
Gordon beach, Tel Aviv
my first visit in thirty years
6 a.m., world still sleeping
I remember them there
a handful of figures
on the sand, in the breakers
Rounding a beach hut
I see them again
taut wrinkled bodies
steady breast stroke
through icy water
half naked exercise routines
puffing breath clouds
I rub my eyes
my own body
thirty years older
stops and stares
from its rotund girth
could it be
unchanged after three decades
smiling in triumph
through all that distance?
I think I recognize
a woman’s face
hear a familiar Russian accent
her partner doing pull-ups
another jogging a wet trail
faces, grimaces —the same!
Shaking my head
I continue on my way
no it’s not possible
one last glance behind
and they disappear
behind the shadow
of a new skyscraper
© Johnmichael Simon
2009
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