Exists Reason to Dance
Translation fails. But body
knows exists reason to shake it
with your eyes clenched shut
head looping, arms flailing
as though shark had leg of you
and held you lovingly under water.
Exists logic for hips to quicken
as a coin piece stopping spinning.
For hips to thrust hard and hard
against the invisible. Warrant
to roll from heel to toe, to turn
and kick and hop. Be a question
mark spinning round. Be a solo.
…..
This poem is from the book Song for My Left Ear, Song for My Right by Jim Richards (Finishing Line Press), and can be found at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/song-for-my-left-ear-song-for-my-right-by-jim-richards/
Jim Richards has taught literature and creative writing since completing a PhD at the University of Houston. His poems have appeared in journals such as Poetry Northwest, Copper Nickel, Sugar House Review, Prairie Schooner, Hotel Amerika, and Southern Poetry Review. He has received nominations for Best New Poets, three Pushcart Prizes, and was granted a Literary Arts Fellowship through the Idaho Commission on the Arts. He lives and works in eastern Idaho’s Snake River Plain.
The Paddock Review 