kurtiss.org | giving is receiving

at the back of the

dance floor at sadie rene’s

where the rail wraps

in a rusty L around the

crowd of dancers and there

i was facing out, toward the side

where backstage darkness fades

detail and you smell rock bands

from 20 years ago, but back

to now i hold one hand with my

sister who is dancing to diana ross

like a family reunion where brothers

and sisters hold hands and dance, but

back to reality i was searching the darkening

sidelines in desperate fashion to find you but

no face or body or teeth or hands or eyes and

loudly grows the song, “all of my whole life

through, i never loved…” but nobody stops

dancing, even me, if i am dancing cause

it doesn’t feel like it, but my feet are moving

around like they’re painting lyrics on

the floor, the ones you’ve heard a million

times but damn do they need

to mean something now