(CJA has previously published prose and photography in the Springs, now he successfully adds poetry to his site canon–LA)

only the vain

and who isn’t in this country?

can feel the strain

of trying to stay the same

sweat rolling down my brain

all the while lines appear

caked up thick!

in a funeral parlor’s pit

staying fit, I should trade it for a crucifix

exercise schedules

and dietary rituals

spread on low-carb bread

the gym and the road, to cheat

the old varicose veined hag of death

who appears by our bedside

the heartbeat’s timekeeper,

with a coroner’s stopwatch

destroying our sunshine

the temporal concubine

run five miles today

the flesh says, “Get slim, Sunny Jim”

still marked and measured for death

—I will fulfill your destiny yet!

with or without the benefit

of running shoes and exercise equipment

a Nike SWOOSH on your coffin lid?