I must admit a certain anxiety
As a nerd and poet for sometime now
The thought of beginning to learn
The processes of physical fitness
After so long
In a place where everyone knows
What they’re doing
It is downright scary.

It is scary the way it is scary
To be at a grocery store with no clue
How to cook squat
When the people you see in the aisles
Clearly must be five star gourmet chefs.

But worse
Because even in this poetic frame
Suppressed somewhere is that
Horrible male ego
That doesn’t want to admit
That I’ve let myself go
Doesn’t want to admit
That I’m a weakling.

I’m glad you’ll be there
The first time I enter the place
And I have to remind myself
Whenever the panic starts
That my health is more important
Than a bit of tarnished ego.