Agape Trumps Eros

[Terrapin Tim Volem]

Hey, campers- Some of of the precious few of you engaged in the pleasure of singing in the gospel choir this past summer under the warm tutelage of Valerie Joi Fiddmont. And some of you caught the Friday night perfomance of the Gospel Choir in the upstairs venue usually considered as the Juke, transformed for the evening from the secular.
We were singing some version of the sacred yes, and what a pleasure... and quel plaisir to anticipate yet another summer with Valerie returning to guide, inspire, and warm us. Here's tp 2-oh-and ten!!
Meanwhile, here's a word cluster that I shared earlier this year with Ms Valerie and now would like to lay on y'all. The spirit works in mysterious ways is all I can say... This poem is called:

Agape Trumps Eros

I'm listening to contemporary gospel
as a prelude to Al Green,
the praise and worship accompanying
the familiar neighborhood amble to the gym
in preparation for sustained pedaling
to the secular erotic.

But aboard the machine, I encounter dysfunfction.
I fiddle with the Walkman's controls to counter the readout
that proclaims there is no Al Green disc
as the wheel within a wheel uselessly spins.

Is this fruitless revolution a revelation?
It must be so, for the gospel works,
returning in full force when I try it
and providing more than enough
of the rhythmic upbeat
for the pores to be cleansed
as the heart and breath
engage in the aerobic,
saturated with spirit.


That's it, friends!

Regards, - Terrapin Tim