THAT DANCE WE DO
Liza Michelle Bevams
On Wednesdays after catching our bodies turn from production to
rest, pulling the brakes of a bus ahead slow, we discover new techniques
to nurse and form a slice of paradise on the corner of Broad & Tasker
on Wednesdays our source of power comes from our groins well-
tuned certified funk comes from language named and unmade in our
limbs, our feet, our hands, our necks, our toes that dance we do comes
from wildness, comes from freedom comes from contracting and ex-
panding comes from grace comes from relief under sweat comes from
the absurd comes from praise comes from grief comes from discover-
ing our reflection in patent leather shoes comes from images written in
blues comes from breaking silence comes from a salted synapse comes
from legends comes from the swagger of memory comes from a ritual
with dreaming comes from not knowing what lies beyond comes from
letting things go comes from a love of making poems comes from sugar
spice comes from oatflower beds, lavender and lime comes from being
comes from cornbread and étouffée comes from clay and stone comes
from the presence of ghosts comes from gleaning on Wednesdays
when we press our hips carpenters of altars we casts spells and compose
our joy center whirl the rage the beauty the tempo across the glamour
of the night