Vox Populi
A curated webspace for Poetry, Politics, and Nature with over 20,000 daily subscribers and over 8,000 archived posts.
Miriam Levine: Let’s Go
There’s no music that forbids us to dance, not Verdi’s
Stabat Mater or Wake up cantata, One Four O;
Fauré’s Agnus Dei, Lux aeterna, Dies irae. Also let’s
hear it for music urging us to plié or whatever, Let’s go
children, don’t you want to go, children, meet all your
fine friends at the Dew Drop Inn. Let’s go children,
don’t you want to go, children . . . Mama set the marks,
papa set the beat, mojo working when they do the . . .
hardly any bodies that cannot dance. That out queen
Mark Morris, hefty as he is, dances the role of Queen
Dido to measures of Purcell’s opera and, flashing his
long arms, makes Dido’s suicide lyrical. Shuffle off
to Buffalo, the halt and the lame, drag-ass me. Sore-
knee Sappho still sings to the dance in her poems. Isn’t
that some sorry relief for the grievously wounded?
When dance is impossible, there may be
moves in the brain but the limbs are not listening.
~~~~
Miriam Levine is the author of Forget about Sleep, her sixth poetry collection, winner of the 2023 Laura Boss Narrative Poetry Award. Another collection, The Dark Opens won the Autumn House Poetry Prize. Levine lives in Florida and New Hampshire.
Copyright 2024 Miriam Levine
Discover more from Vox Populi
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Oh to dance!
LikeLike
You bet, Barbara!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the gorgeous, thought-provoking poem. It reminds me of this song lyric: Stomp your foot up on the floor. Throw the windows open, Take a breath of fresh June air, and dance around the room. (from The Tender Land by Aaron Copland, words by Horace Everett)
If not able to stomp up on the floor (or even shuffle), throw the windows in your brain open; may you find solace in the dancing there on a crisp November day. That’s what I’m going to try to do.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Jim. Happy dancing.
>
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you for dropping in!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh Miriam, Stunning! (Carla Schwartz)
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you, Carla.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Carla,
Happy you like “Let’s Go”!
Yours for connecting . . .
LikeLiked by 1 person