hungarian dance №5, Redux

To Derek Choy and Paul

                                    the tune is only
                                    a way to hide
                                    your pain

              it starts
              slowly enough
               (the dance

                                       it unfolds
                                       like a mechanical flower
                                       opens its thin metal petals

   the dance!
   is not something that
     can
          be
             taught

                               no chords
                               no melody to tunes
                               of words learned or forsaken

no steps to be taken
but it gets faster
  so you must either

                                  lay into turns
                                  add gas
                                  run through lights

  or stop
  let muscle memory
  spasm

                                               still and frozen
                                             tempo will tell you
                                             realities

          chosen
          in twofourths time
            limbs heavy and full

                                                while the invisible
                                                worms of thought
                                                bore through your skull