Aluminum foil-covered, cardboard stars above our heads and the basketball hoops have been drawn back, painted lines and circles below our feet. We dance in socks, leaving our shoes out in the hallway.
We mimic the leaves who aren’t ready to dance, because the air is still warm and we glow with a luminescent heat, moving in aimless directions as if the gym floor is a sacred grassland and the seasons do not exist. Our desires – a clutter of arms and legs. The sweat on our lips drawn down to our tongues, for the world has always been and always will be a dancer.
Winter will come. We’ve skated on its skin before, scooped the marshmallows off countless hot chocolates, been told the stories of the wolf in the snow. It will change our waltz, starting when the rain comes. So, in this form, today, we dance in the body summer has given us and we coalesce to get ready for colder climate, dancing to escape the body, while being in the body.
When we look, it may seem like we follow the sun, aligning with the rising and setting of things, turning with the Earth. At other times, we are beings of our own choice, crisscrossing the paths of others. In these moments only movement exists, nothing else is real, we can only dance. The galaxies are no different. Look. See them samba with our own eyes. For all these moves are known by heart. And when we sense we know our hearts, we feel the floor beneath our feet.
As one who wears her autumn gown, I love the line about dancing in the bodies summer has given us. 🙂 The whole poem is lovely, contemplative yet grounded in earth. And the image is compelling — I want to follow the light into the tunnel!
I really loved the last three lines of the first stanza. It truly resonated with me. Of course, as you know, the whole poem is damned good, but those three lines really stuck.
Leave a reply to Ahzio Cancel reply