(or Why I love exercising with Shelley)

Because the music, magically channeled
from her phone to the small turquoise speaker,

is so good, gets us moving, and her
delightfully peppy self makes moving fun

(to paraphrase Fleetwood Mac), and she
can’t help but belt out R-E-S-P-E-C-T

when Aretha does. And because I fall into
high harmony with Artie on “Mrs. Robinson,”

I’m not noticing the slightly annoying pull
in my upper right leg, and most of all

because when the Isley Brothers swing into
“Twist and Shout,” Shelley’s hips move

accordingly, and so do those of her oldie
students, each of us with one leg bent,

up on toes, twisting on one side, then the other,
and because if this is exercise, singing

and dancing the body parts, I’ll happily take it—
Well, shake it up, baby, now

Twist and shout…