Monday, December 6, 2010

Dance Stupider

Dance Stupider

Dance stupider. Make less sense.
Order a dish that you hate,
just to confirm that the bitterness
of radishes is still unpleasant.

Be late, but do not rush, do not
look at any announcement of time,
do not will anyone to be impressed
by your goodness or responsibility.

Forget the stamp on a birthday card,
and open it, weeks later, when it returns.
No one expects a four-tiered cake from you.
Stop furtively scouring the grout.

Let an unthinking part of you
steer for a stretch. When you recover,
nobody loathes you. Gloriously small
are our grievances against the self.

12 comments

  1. Very nice! Give yourself a get out of a jail free card in advance.

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  2. *gets out jump rope and chants*

    boys go to jupiter, to get more stupider,

    girls go to mars to get more candy bars!

    Chants aside, I love this. And it is weirdly appropriate for me today as I have decided that I won't regret it on my deathbed if I don't go to work today, so I told them I have 24-hour smallpox or something.

    Every stanza of this has something that made me go "oh yeah!" as I read it. The opening advice, the willing people to be impressed, the four-tiered cake (especially that!) and the entire last stanza.

    This simply made my morning.

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  3. Yeah, it's good to cut yourself a little slack once in awhile.

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  4. I'm a huge fan of this! Excellent as always. ;)

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  5. This is one of my favorites EVER!! The title makes me think of Elaine from Seinfeld doing "The Little Kicks". The "scouring the grout" line is so metaphorical. Remind me to tell you your grandpa's term for that.

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  6. Very good...but I assure you I never furtively or even non-furtively scrub ANYTHING! ;-)

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  7. from Therese L. Broderick -- Good advice for the holiday season!

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  8. I have had a rough day, yes, even while abroad, roadtripping in Edinburgh. Thanks for this, "Gloriously small
    are our grievances against the self" -- a timely reminder.

    PS: Good luck in your move! Hope it all goes well, I, too, mourn alongside La Belette, I fear you are moving far far away, and I never got the chance to drop in on you in CA! Waaa...

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  9. This is really exactly what I needed to hear today - and I shared it with several other people, too.

    Stunning - I will be hanging it on my refrigerator and putting a copy in the poetry frame on my desk...

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  10. love this, what a beautifully crafted reminder to just be human.

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  11. This is absolutely brilliant. Yes, I will take your advice. I will make mistakes. I will forget to remember and I will remember to make more mistakes and pretend they are on purpose.
    And i will MISS you!xoox

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