When I first read this poem, I found it straightforward, delicate, and direct. But when I re-read it just now, I had a very different reaction—it felt stormy, fiery, dynamic, complex, vulnerable, and steely somehow. The body-related imagery really jumped out to me. There’s the “loud” unruly body felt from the first person, some sort of creature to wrangle but also clearly connected to the mind and heart. Then there’s the disembodied instructor’s voice, urging people to hold physical poses but using non-physical emotional imagery to make it feel feasible. And the sea of torsos rippling, like some natural phenomenon (waves, or a herd of animals, or plants blowing in the wind). And then the other person addressed in the second person, someone whose literal physical persistence is a concern, but whose well-being can only be inferred indirectly through totally non-physical clues (tweets, Spotify, memory, conjecture, interpretation). I think this a great poem, with a lot more going on that I first thought…
