À la Place de la Bastille, La Fête de la Musique

by Tracy Koretsky

Tonight this Latin-looking lover to sing to me
songs in French
songs in Spanish
this     Springsteen-styling stud to lay the beat
just right     for tonight     I fête
I funnel unintentional through swell and bob
Though thoughtless
I may have caused this—
I have shoulders that long for wings—
they roll propelled by my song of just sounds
we make before language
Find     That Circle
where loose-limbed men loop one beneath the next
and sheeny summer shoulders do doubletime

Look, that Young Couple knows all the words
They act them out—the acrobats—
jig a jota     hoof a hornpipe
crash against the other like young and bored rams
half his hair is magenta, careful braids and one
question mark slipping into his eye, the other
mouse-like, wheatstiff     unmoving
He foots for her a clumsy slide
She lifts one single line of brow crossing the unbridged aquiline
tips the brim on her Greek fisherman
points with That Nose

to the band, to the sky, to the blonde Venus suddenly alongside
tossing glowing rings like light bells over hillsides
and I toss too and there is     well, a lot of hair
crisscrossing the summer solstice sky
as my hips, as independent as adolescence, assert a widening arc
and I am caught here now and forever
in this circle of dancers
We are white, we
are brown, we are gold and winged
we are clumsy-footed young
men with men     women alone     babies on shoulders
we are hips     we are lungs     alive in this city of music
this breathing and beating city of music
Nous sommes des enfants     Tout est possible

Tracy Koretsky is the author of Ropeless, a 15-time award-winning novel that challenges cultural assumptions about disability. You can hear audio chapters and read excerpts on her website: www.readropeless.com. Tracy has recently joined the editorial staff at TRIPLOPIA ezine (www.Triplopia.org).