Carol Frith – Ⅰ

Cyclic Music: Roma Dancer 

 

 

 

Move in and center on the line. Plié.

You’re moving from the hips, a tango or

a pas de Basque. Your dance is tangled play,

a mix of yellow steps. What are they for?

Second chances in this Roma song:

transparent mask of yellow gypsy sound,

a cyclic music that goes on too long.

You dance the roundelay, rondel and round

with someone in the background we can’t see,

a dying swan perhaps, some pas de deux—

Siegfried with Odile/Odette, these three

that Siegfried, dancing one-on-one, thinks two?

Oh, gypsy dancer with your flashing feet,

you strike white fire against a Roma beat.