(the second five of a sequence of 20 10-line poems on the theme of dance)
6.
‘Me and Bobby McGee,’ sang Janis
and I slid around the living-room floor
behind my broom, dancing like
no-one was watching (no-one was)
and chiming in with, ‘Freedom’s just
another word for nothing left to lose’ –
my moves gloriously free, because
no-one could see them, not even me –
and shouting out the words tuneless …
briefly escaping my young mother-wife-hood.
7.
Two of my Capricorn friends
(I have a lot of them; it must be
a thing, that Capricorns work
as friends with Scorpio: they’re
among my best friends … but we
don’t have everything in common)
were professional belly-dancers
and teachers; but they could never
teach me, though they tried – I don’t
have the flexible midriff, the nimble feet.
8.
‘Work,’ said the hymn,
‘for the night is coming.’
I always heard it as, ‘Dance –
for the night is coming.’
When you come to the end
of your life, be that early
or late, maybe there’ll be
Heaven, maybe Hell, or simply
nothing. No matter. I want to
have danced while I was here.
9.
The dancing
of fingers over keyboard
of words in my mind,
the music
of sounds and rhythms,
the play of ideas –
poetry compensates
for all my lack
of dance,
of song.
10.
Gene Kelly in the rain;
Fred Astaire up walls
and across the ceiling;
Ginger Rogers with
that smile, that hair;
Cyd Charisse with her
long, perfect legs;
Debbie Reynolds
and Mitzi Gaynor,
perky sweet …
(Number 9 is a textu.)
See also Poems 1-5, Poems 11-15 and Poems 16-20.
The whole sequence is now available as a free ebook. To access it (and others) first go here.
Sharing (off prompt) with Poets and Storytellers United at Friday Writings #224: Just Desserts.
