Anabelle’s Blog:
Gym Confessions is a poetry and creative nonfiction fusion blog dedicated to the time I have spent in and out of the gym across my 21 years of life.
My name is Anabelle Taff and I am a rising senior at the University of Maine at Farmington. I am working towards completing degrees in Creative Writing and English, as well as earning a minor in Video Game Studies. I am primarily a poet that enjoys writing about lesbianism, gender, mundanity, crows, and cowboys.
GYM CONFESSIONS: 4
beach bum gender euphoriai’ve got first date jittersso bad that my toes havewriggled a pit deep enoughinto the scalding hotsand that i can seemy own grave. i’m riddled with excitement;i can see this goingfar, far into the futurebut for now i try to settle down.my date runs to the bathroomas i tuck our valuables intoa…
GYM CONFESSIONS: 3
YOU’RE NOT A GOOD KISSERApril. My elementary school’s playground was mostly made up of a vast, overgrown field, fitted with a broken soccer net, a swingset littered in gaps lacking swings, a slide that deposited students in a heap of wet wood chips, and monkey bars. In the first grade, I kissed the principal’s son…
GYM CONFESSIONS: 2
two poemsI. miles per hourmy father and i areheavy footed pedalgoblins. i inheritedhis deliciousneed for speed. my father is an old friendof I-95. spent yearsmowing that pavementdown, crooningJohnny Cash, John Prine. my father listensand understandsand he taught mehow to drive in hisbeat-up white Dodge. my father boughthis mother’s blue civic,gifted it to me. now i…
GYM CONFESSIONS: 1
I. Middle School the carrion-climbing unit sixth grade, suspended fifteen feet up, body rocking into the synthetic rockclimbing wall: a boat barely surviving a ferocious ocean. hands slid like dull skates on slick ice as i grappled for the plastic, pastel green and red crags. the harness dug into my skin, made brand new stretch…