Back in 08 I was watching a synchronised swimming event in the Beijing Olympics on TV. This led to an arc of thought involving uniformity and the military state. Kung Fu has added his own text to transform this and give it a much more optimistic ending.

Synchronised swimming

The thrill of colour and thigh

moving as one organism

the flock veering

semaphores black/ white

every move’s a calculated

mean

a darker subjugation

individuals are vanishing

points on the horizon

the technical merit of

Gestapo jackboots

Our hunger for icons

fire             water

the power of uniformity

We’ve seen synchronised humanity

In Goerring’s choreography

Free thought is rooted

out in training

The aberrant sent to re-education camp

or stood against the

swimming pool wall and

shot

© rob walker.

from micromacro, Seaview Press, 2006 and phobiaphobia, Picaro Press, 2007. Also appeared on David Barnes’ Numbat poetry website.

Thanks Kung Fu & ccmixter.org.