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Likestarlings is a place for talking in poems. We pair poets with poets and they write a sequence of six new works by responding in turn to one another. Our palaver blog goes beyond poetry to discuss collaboration in theory and in practice. Please take a look, and feel free to add comments, opinions and suggestions here. Read poems here
 

Do a little dance for me


Yes, I can dance, the way a bear dances –
but not a hot plate under the feet dance,
not a goaded uncomprehending dance,
not a dance to rouse peasants’ laughter,
but rather a real honey-dripping, trout-tickling,
harrumphing happy fat-bellied roar of a dance.

Spring’s arriving and I shake the sleep
from my eyes, my joints, my limbs and brain,
step naked from the cave and let the wind
and spring sunlight sigh into my hair,
give one great breathy stretch and yawn and then –

like the buttoned up shaman letting loose,
or like the loose-haired librarian after hours –
I’ll start to dance with little rhythm but great joy,
the way a bear might dance, when no one sees.