Fummy Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 The Pleasure of this Dance -- Jonathan Nicholls [1956–current, English] If you want to take my hand, cover the arcs and stripes of my lifelines with your own, don’t ask me to do the military two. I don’t want to shuffle like a well behaved pedestrian to the right to the left to the right again turn and direct a mortal kick. I don’t want to be bound up by neat routines done before done again; boxed in, a product; a man on a factory floor, eye on the clock waiting for the clamour to stop. If you want to take my hand for the pleasure of this dance then come with me down the bent and narrow. ****** I want to dance like a mother weeps at the birth of her child like she wails if that child goes to an early grave. I want to dance like kindling burns like hot fat spits onto unsuspecting skin like a bruise like a deep wound bleeds I want to dance like a chick beats its way out of a shell like that same chick – a hen – decapitated chased death round the yard. I want to dance like fireworks appear like a tree in a storm like the ocean’s appetite. I want to dance like a lunatic whispers like a rumour of war like a condemned man’s last request I want to dance like a child plays on its own like a bird flies freed from a cage like a dolphin, like a shark, like a whale. I want to dance like a virgin dreams of being loved like a man shakes as he comes like a hymen splits. I want to dance like a bullet’s sleep is broken like a drowning man comes up for air like the dogs of Pompeii are sleeping I want to dance even as the dance floor empties, even when the music stops. And with or without you I’m going to dance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fummy Posted August 7, 2015 Author Share Posted August 7, 2015 And I can't even say why I love this poem, I probably don't even know . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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