Somewhere in the back of my head lies an inner ear, always waiting for the pregnant phrase to catch me. Last night I told my son over a phone call, that I was watching a James Bond film while sitting on the floor and doing yoga. “Sounds like on of your books – “Yoga & James Bond. “ Of course I was caught. He was right. Just the kind of juxtaposition I like: circling ‘round yoga & James Bond.
Yoga, James Bond & The Bad Guys
Sitting on the floor
Watching James bond overpower foes.
A complicated character with
Subtle ethics, ice-chilled wrath –
Most of all, a yogic path
Of duty and detachment.
Doing yoga while the villain, Mr. Greene,
Routinely mega-bombs his own;
Ligaments and muscles blown.
Royal houses overthrown!
And yet we have so much in common.
Mr. Greene detached but mean.
Hollow followers his kill machine.
Bond the Lancelot
With sharpened stunts that are his lot,
He Fences, boxes, crashes cars,
Jumps from heights,
Wins fights. Has scars in need of surgery.
He heals quickly.
Evil lurks, he never shirks, and still
His life is filled with perks:
Hotel suites, girls en suite, dry martinis, Aston Martins (note the plural.)
Absolutely sure of all and unequivocal.
This poet rather fond of Bond,
Both yogis of a different kind
He the running, driving soldier,
I, the yogi on the floor.
Each connected to a power.
Grinding skills; his Bond-dynamic;
Mine a tranquil skill-anemic.
Reader, can you see
Why I give in to mediocrity,
The ordinary right inside me?
It’s a license to kill,
Yes, you guessed it – evil.
Yoga & James Bond 2.10.2015
Circling Round Yoga II; A Sense Of The Ridiculous;
Arlene Corwin
