Lay for the Day 27th May

The birthday of Isadora Duncan, in Oakland, California. (The sources seem evenly split between 1877 and 1878 as the year of her birth.) The mother of modern dance, and a champion of liberty.

The poem is set in Argentina under the regime of General Galtieri.

Blue

Police hauled her
out of the bar
for having blue
hair, and slammed her

into a car;
they terrified
then released her.
Another one

dreaming the just
and terrible
day of the dust’s
awakening,

drinking her wine
in the meanwhile.
She dances, she
shuffles her feet

to the congas’
supple logic,
drawing designs
in the air with

her arms apart
and her eyes closed,
testing the ground
with her bare toes,

testing the ground
to see what stirs.

John Gibbens, from Characters: You & I

 

The Lay Reader: an archive of the poetic calendar

Home | Books | Music | Events | New work | Contact & ordering