Still Life at the Rock Climbing Gym

Set just for us,
The wall waits.
Many things to grasp,
Many things to make our own as we hold them.
Front-lit by the gym lights, the wall is strangely bright
And all else fades into shadow
As we fix our eyes on the climb.
To start, a yellow sloper
And a jug; our hands clench
Reflexively as we envision their texture
On our palms.
Next, a clump of textured grapes,
Requiring a dynamic move to the right
And a precise grab to avoid slipping. There
Is little to stand on, but two long pinches
Are there if we can squeeze ourselves by.
Finally, a series of hand-sized slopers lead
To the finishing hold:
Technical, tricky, and dusted with a waterfall of chalk –
easy to spill off of
If we’re not paying attention.
But oh, to close our hands around that lovely, jutting
Chalice of a hold at the end.

We move our arms in strange, curled gestures,
Aping the moves we need to make
While the wall waits.