Saturday, March 2, 2013

Do you like Zumba®? Do you like poetry?


Zumba Pantoumba

By Leslie M. Bailey

Once a week I exercise
By dancing to a Latin beat
It’s good for me, I realize
To swing my arms and move my feet

While dancing to a Latin beat
With head and shoulders, knees and toes
I swing my arms and move my feet
I start to sweat, my body glows 

With head and shoulders, knees and toes
I slide, then jump, and “gracefully” turn
I start to sweat and my body glows
The moves are hot, the calories burn
 
We slide, then jump, and gracefully turn
We dance in step like sexy soldiers
The moves are hot, the calories burn
We shake our booty and shimmy our shoulders 

In a Rockettes row, like sexy soldiers
My heart beats at an increased rate
We shake our booty and shimmy our shoulders
Although I’m always one beat late

My heart beats at an increased rate
As I mimic the moves, left-handed
That’s why I’m always one beat late
Oh no, I think I’m stranded 

The class turns right, but I’m left-handed
--no Ginger Rogers or Fred Astaire
I look so silly. I think I’m stranded
I just don’t have the Latin flair 

I channel some Rogers and Astaire
‘Cause sitting won’t be my demise!
So what if I don’t have a Latin flair?
Looking foolish beats death, I surmise

I worry that sitting will be my demise
So I Zumba -- it's trademarked, you bet
Looking foolish beats death, I wisely surmise
But the value is all in the sweat 

So I Zumba – it’s trademarked, don’t forget
 It’s fun, and I do realize
It won’t mean a thing unless I sweat
 during my weekly exercise 

A Pantoum is a poetry form where, among other rules, the 2nd and 4th lines of each stanza are repeated as the 1st and 3rd lines of the following stanza. The poem ends by repeating, in reverse, the 1st and 3rd lines of the first stanza, so that the poem begins and ends with the same line.

Zumba® is an awesome exercise program held at View.  Right now, it is offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.  
 
--Leslie Bailey, View staff