In Praise Of Muscles Poem by Robert Charles Howard

Make a muscle?
Nonsense!
Only God can make a muscle.
and you can mark me down as grateful
for the ones attached to me!

They’re a curious bunch though:
I say push and they say pull,
I say lift and it’s pull again
but let me pull one
and there’s Hell to pay.

Of course we have steward's rights
to train and toughen them
to storm up a Chopin Etude
or guide a surgical knife
or we can bulk them up
posing profile to the mirror.
And yes we can fold them into a fist
or extend a welcoming hand
(the choice is with the steward) .

Thank you God for muscles
(dear angels of movement)
but please Sir, can I have some more?

May, 2008