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All Poetry & Nothing But
Two Poems
by Nicole Pugh

Sometimes I Just Gotta Dance

Sometimes I just gotta dance
Gotta put on my
High heel low cut backless little thing
And paint nails slick and long
The color of firecrackers.

Sometimes I just gotta dance
Gotta go out on the prowl
Lookin for some
Good rhythm
Something I can
Ease in to like a cool shower
Something to make me
Breathe in deep
Through toenails and bottoms of feet.

Sometimes I just gotta dance
A fast beat
Make my belly quake
And my face shine
And my eyes flitter
And my fingers snap
And my hips
My hips sway like coconuts on a tree.

Sometimes I just gotta dance
Until dawn
Dance
Until-the-wooden-walls-of-history
“Shiver dance”
And expose
The downbeat of the centuries.

Sometimes I just gotta dance
Into halls of linoleum
Like a sledgehammer
Dance
Dance these buildings alive.



Stain Glass Window Time

Stained glass windows
The kind that leave shadows
On sunny days
And cast long glances
On nights when neon lights
Flash on and off like a midnight
Perpetually beginning

It was a stained-glass window evening
The Tuesday I met you
The moon hung yellow and swollen
In the soggy sky
Neither of us mentioned it
But it was the topic of conversation
In the in between times
When sweat on the brow
Or a glance of the eye
Made our gabber meaningful.

Soft, soupy palms sat poised in the foyer
Protecting a rock fountain of plastic frogs
And shiny marbles
A little bit of the exotic
In this Navy town.

Rice wine made the babble of recycled water
Come to life,
Transported us to Malaysia where we saw candlelight
And tasted tangy fruit
Licked with hungry lips
Sweet juice slithering down thirsty throats.

When it was time to say goodbye
We waved it
A friendly chummy sort of departure
Our feet walking in separate strides
But both in the direction of the pregnant moon.

 

All Poetry & Nothing ButClash of CivilizationsEC ChairFeatured PoetsForeign DeskGalleryStage
Hedonism: Theory & PracticeLetters & GlossolaliaArt of MarriageMoney TalkPets & BeastsZounds

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