Poetry in Motion

‘The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter–it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.’- Mark Twain

‘Give us a poem,’

Muhammad Ali finished his commencement speech at Harvard when an audience member shouted this.  Ali returned to the microphone and spoke off the cuff.

‘Me.  We.’

The shortest poem ever written.  From Ali it’s larger than life.  Beautiful.

Poetry is many things, most of which exceed my grasp of language.  But I do understand and appreciate the power of brevity.

Brevity is elegant.

‘Brevity is the soul of wit,’- Lord Polonius in Hamlet (paradoxically not a brief play).

Don’t use two words when you can use one.

Which brings us to an English language cliche: Poetry in motion.

Apt.

Economy of movement.  Don’t move any more or any further than you need to.  The right amount of movement at just the right time.

Graceful.

This is what we aspire to.

Watch great yogis.  Great athletes.  Great dancers.

It looks simple because it is.  Right movement, right time, right speed.

Simple movements combined effortlessly.  Precise.

Much is written about running form.  Books, articles.

Poems.

Short (brief) strides.

Be light on your feet.

Be flexible.

Tall.

Quiet.

Recreate the wheel (90 strides a minute (one leg)).

Be poetry in motion.

There is something about great movement that affects us emotionally.  It’s why we shell out so much money for dance, professional sports, movies.

Athletic poetry.

And when you’re graceful, for a moment or for a mile, you understand why.

It’s the drug we trainers and coaches are selling.

‘But how will I know when I embody poetry in motion?’

There just aren’t words for some things.  They must be experienced.

The difference between the lightning bug and lightning.

You’ll know.