Poetry

Poetry often allows us to express complex human emotions and conditions in a simple line.

Dance

It all started when my Daddy used to
throw me quarters to do the Charleston.
The blackbottom, the two step,
One step, two step, like that
that's how I got started.
I think about the good times I had
in the dance halls on Fillmore or Divisadero.
Oh, how I miss it!
That music gets goin' and you just can't take it.
Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald
that jazz music.
Good music ain't as plentiful as it was before.
When it got started, we shuffled on down to the dance floor
They liked the way I moved
mambo, samba, I dance.
Heels, not too high
they'd say
Hey, hey, hey who is she?
Some women would hate me
amazed and surprised by my dancing.
And I would just smile
The music was inside me, you just gotta keep up with the music that's all.
Oh, how I miss it!
I dance a little bit now if I hear the right music.
All by myself,
I do a little mambo at night
if they don't catch me.

AgeSong at Hayes Valley Residents, 2006

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