Listen to the world’s best poetry read out loud.
the men are weeping in the gym
the men are weeping in the gym - Andrew McMillan
the men are weeping in the gym
The men are weeping in the gym
using the hand dryer to cover
their sobs their hearts have grown too big
for their chests their chests have grown too big
for their shirts they are dressed like kids
who have forgotten their games kit
they are crying in the toilet
and because they have built themselves
as statues this must mean that God
has entered them they are wringing
their faces like sweat towels
in the sink their veins are about
to burst their banks they are flooding
out of themselves onto the tiles
they have turned water into protein shakes
they have got too close to the mirrors
they have got too close to the glass
and now they are laying
in the broken pools of their own faces
the lines of them! At the decline press
the bicep curl waiting staring
straight ahead swearing that the wetness
on their cheeks is perspiration
that the words they mutter as they lift
are meaningless that they feel
nothing when the muscle tears itself
from itself that they don’t hear
the thousands of tiny fracturings
needed to build something stronger
From physical (Jonathan Cape, 2015), © Andrew McMillan 2015, used by permission of the author and the publisher.