How do you mix pumping iron with pulsing prose?
Ask osteopath and gym owner Luke Bennett, 54, who began writing poetry about after school hours spent at his father’s gym in Forest Gate.
Luke was four when a 19-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger came to stay on their sofa for a number of years, training at his dad Wag’s bodybuilding centre.
Born into a fitness and gym dynasty, Luke’s maternal grandparents Bob and Vina Wooler opened a gym in Portsmouth in 1933. His mother Dianne, 82, still runs a ladies’ gym on the corner of Romford Road.
“I grew up with bodybuilders,” said Luke.
“It’s what I came home to after school.”
It’s no surprise that Luke opened his own gym and osteopathy practice on Romford Road, The Liberty Clinic.
But five years ago he began to foster an unexpected penchant for poetry, writing about his upbringing and connection to Forest Gate.
“I think everybody has an artistic bent inside of them,” he said.
“But people can be so often stifled by things like school and the exam system when they’re young.”
His poem ‘Rock’ lists the different men who came though the doors of Wag’s gym like FA Cup-winning West Ham striker, Trevor Brooking. Luke describes “These beads of people, piled up / Supermarket shelves of muscle”.
Above the entrance of Wag’s gym were the words: “Here we make men”. This became the inspiration and title for an exhibition put on by Luke’s friend and fellow Forest Gate local, Lloyd Jeans.
The retired lawyer turned musician collaborated with artist Tom Ellis for an event based on the gym at Coffee 7 in June 2013.
Since then, Luke and Lloyd have begun their own collaboration with a series of performances throughout the burgeoning Forest Gate art scene.
The two have an “odd symbiosis”, said Luke, where Lloyd takes a particular theme of Luke’s poems and composes an emotive piano piece to accompany the recital.
Lloyd and Luke’s next event will be held at Corner Kitchen on Woodgrange Road at 7.30pm on Wednesday, March 28. Entry is free.
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