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 2^nd and 4^th lines of each stanza are repeated as the 1^st and 3^rd lines of the following stanza. The poem ends by repeating, in reverse, the 1^st and 3^rd 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