Late Night Crowd And Them

Accordion sets the pace comme ça
hot hot current leaping leopard through a late night crowd
shoulder to elbow
to hip
to hip
dancers like beautiful Pavlovian mutts in ostrich hide high heel ropers
   start to vibrate
sweat wet lovers pull close pulse into each other's embrace
the notes swell
become alive
becomes a beacon
calling to the hunt
to laugh to circle to drink
to breathe the same breath
to be immortal subsisting for a spell in someone else's life

reach my hand into the sea comme ça
pull a pretty girl smiling in a yellow pattern sun dress
   from the waves
old wooden floor buckling like a trampoline
bouncing like a wooden floor should not
two-step mosh pit comme ça
she smells like jasmine and shampoo and cigarettes
back of her ribcage in my hand
fingers folded into her spine
push her two beats forward
pull her two beats backward

fiddle cries the war rally of my ol' cajun grandfathers comme ça
she is asked to promenade below her own twisted elbow
a damp brown curl clings to her temple
Fibonacci smiles while we twirl
she is teeth and lips
she is yellow fringe and glittering clavicles
she is clumsy
she is lovely
she is all

electric bass swallows the last notes like warm whiskey when the lights come on
she offers her flushed cheek
   and I am forever grateful
grace her soft opal skin with my bearded kiss
where roses blossom
thank you for the dance
it was my absolute pleasure
given to a stranger with a smile comme ça
from a stranger

reach my hand into the sea again
comme ça
pull another pretty girl in another sun dress from the waves
accordion sets the pace comme ça

TA