I will die in Kentucky on a rainy day in spring
perhaps on a Thursday as today is a Thursday
and I’m pondering continuing Pilates
where I resist the Nazi rigidness 
though I long for strength as my body enters
elder status.  I long to nurture the tautness
of youth, the resilience of a dancer.

You know it was the Russians who perfected
ballet– classical music and repetition and turn
after twirl after turn.  They were escaping
their Dr. Zhivago winters with only a fireplace
for warmth and so they had to spiral and spring
and create long strong muscles to ignite the heat
required for life, survival.