Blog: Thinking In Thirds

Are you an Albanian having Olympics withdrawal? The London Games are over, and while I enjoyed the moments that I caught, one of my favorite Olympic stories was NPR's piece about how sports and poetry were closely connected in the ancient world, and at the original Olympic games, athletes "would hire poets to write victory odes."

Well, I missed my chance to pop across the pond, hang out a shingle in London, and attempt a revival of the practice, but then I found out there was still hope for poetic-athletic inspiration closer to home: the

It's coming up Sept. 29, so there's still time to enter and train—and event organizer is also leading a number of . 

To honor the event and hopefully inspire the athletes, I've written a Tri-themed poem in terza rima—it seemed like the appropriate form.

You can read it below...or better yet, come hear me read it next Wednesday at Albany's new monthly fixed-form poetry reading, First Wednesday Formal, at

In the meantime, triathletes or potential athletes should check out Trutane's facebook page for updates on training and workouts. I can vouch for the value of his free Core & More trainings, Sundays at Memorial Park—they're a great workout, and fun.

And now, Albany Triathletes: onward to victory!

Thinking In Thirds

In honor of the 2012 Albany Triathlon

Let the water carry, not hold, you
and your lungs remember the air
Your mind will fix on the goal you

once set, and will struggle to care.
Decide to care, but not too much --
In every lap, a truth and a dare.

You won't recall the towel's touch,
the transition from water to wheel,
long-arm stroke to stiff-arm clutch

Muscle coping with rubber and steel.
You've come to thinking in thirds
Legs pound and pump until you feel

fire from hip down. Courage girds
you, and it's cool wind from waist up.
Now think of horses. Think of birds.

Dismounted, hot and cold, you're laced up
for the last of the triad, the holy ghost
of lungs and legs, until you've raced up

an amazing Everest of pain...then coast
downhill into Pride, Glory, or Almost.