[Editor’s Note: This Community Voices piece is a poem by lifelong runner, Angie Funtanilla.]
The Astonishing Act of Running
Of opening our gait, widening our stance
Propelling the entire vessel
Stationary to portable
Standing to movement,
Requiring limbs, organs, blood and bones
The entire cacophonous chorus
Of what we call body
To play in repeated coordination
Each part, deft
Eyes closed
Playing their instruments by feel
While the conductor’s hands ascend and dip
Twirl in the cool air
In purposeful motion
While the strings are oblivious
The horns, oblivious
They know this tune by heart
Been on this block, repeatedly
They know it.
They know it.
Their heads shift from side to side
In glorious rhapsody
In gleeful dedication to what they love,
Moving to the beat of this body’s drum
Angie Funtanilla appreciating her body’s ability to move in harmony. Photo courtesy of Angie Funtanilla.
