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3. Dancing
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Sojourner Series They watch me place the mat on
the cobblestone square
That guitarist I found in the park is
tuning his strings
Then
I take my place and he begins to play
I am still in myself as I begin to sway
I am still in myself until
Madness
breathless
I fall
I unfurl
There is nothing
but the flying
I soar
I twirl
Leaping
Freeing
Steady on!
Thatta girl!
What is fear?
Fear is thoughtless!
Fear is nothing!
Fear is fleeting!
No pain in my ankles
Or crack in my knees
I am something
Outside it
My spirit untamed!
I am aether in this moment
Unbodied, insane!
Wounds are not real
if you can't feel their pain
I am desired
By them,
Desired yet again!
Each time so familiar!
Each time outside ken!
Oh the hot blush
that comes when they cheer
I gasp out my thanks
and forget you're not here
Now the Sojourner performs
Now the Sojourner performs and there is an inner whirlwind in pace with the breathless movements that suggest freedom and unleashed joy. The short, staccato lines, beginning as a whispering flutter, soon pulse with empowerment: a triumph over fear, physical pain and heartbreak.
"Unbodied, insane!" you fly to the summit of who you truly are.
What a trip! Love this amazing series.
This latest entry in the
This latest entry in the Sojourner series accelerates right before our eyes, as the lines shorten and speaker's description of the process takes us to the conclusion; and the process has been so satisfying to the Sojourner, that the Sojourner has forgotten that someone significant (a Beloved?---I would like to think so) is actually absent.
Decades ago, the French Poet, Paul Valery, wrote a couple of Socratic Dialogues that, when published in this country, carried a Preface by Wallace Stevens. One of the dialogues is about a dancing girl, Athikte, and how her accelerating dance takes possession both of her body and of the philosophers, including Socrates, who then construct their dialogue around her performance. This poem reminded me of that Dialogue very much. Admittedly, I cannot read the original French text and have to rely only upon Stevens' excerpts from, and description of, it; but I what I do know of the Dialogue was brought to mind by your magnificent poem; and it is always a great thing when one poem converses with another in the reader's mind. Bravo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Starward
You have inspired me to go on
You have inspired me to go on a hunt for this dialogue, so I may incorporate it consciously!
Anazon has, or used to have,
Anazon has, or used to have, it; but I have never found it on the internet.
Starward