when you are learning to dance by yourself
\nit helps
\nif you are first experienced
\nat having a meal by yourself<\/p>\n
not in front of the television
\nbut at the kitchen table
\nwith silverware and a napkin on your lap;
\nI open the window and the curtains
\nso I can watch and hear the birds<\/p>\n
sometimes while I am eating alone
\nthe zen bunny comes
\nand eats my radishes in the garden
\nwhich I let her do
\neven though that means
\ntechnically
\nI am not eating alone<\/p>\n
but these are not times for
\ntechnicalities.<\/p>\n
to dance by yourself
\ntakes similar intention
\nand not any music will do
\nfor some is too saturated in memories
\nof the good and bitter kinds
\nand some music is just too cheerful
\nthough\u00a0 a dirge is never right either<\/p>\n
I choose Tracy Chapman, of course,
\nyou already knew that,
\nor guessed, at least,
\nand I wear a skirt that would twirl
\nif I wanted such frivolity<\/p>\n
but I begin with just my hips,
\nthough you can’t move your hips in isolation,
\ncan you?
\nfor the shoulders must follow
\nand that brings in the arms
\nand now I am dancing
\nswaying
\nlike a Pride flag in the breeze
\nand basking in the sunshine
\nfor I open the windows and the curtains again
\nthis time
\nso the birds can listen to my music
\nthe bucket is tipped
\nand the zen bunny,
\nshe’s laying all zen and such
\nwhere the radishes used to be
\nas she lets me relish
\ndancing alone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
when you are learning to dance by yourself it helps if you are first experienced at having a meal by yourself not in front of the television but at the kitchen table with silverware and a napkin on your lap; I open the window and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":803,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1136],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem","category-official-marathon-prompts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/803"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100572"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100694,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100572\/revisions\/100694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}