What do you see?
A tree?
Trees?
Naked trees enduring the cold?
Or tree beings reaching to each other?
Reaching and dancing?
Do trees dance?
Do you dance?
When I reach out to you,
will you dance with me?
Yes is yes,
but no is just a slower form of yes
until we learn the steps
because
the dance is all there is.
21 comments:
Thanks for your work and have a good weekend
I love that... no is just slower form of yes...
(I might need to steal it)
Icy
a tree
or two
or three
and
wind
is their
musician
when they dance
no nun's ruler
need keep them apart
for their togetherness
choreographs differently
twigs may touch
spirits rustle
trunks never in contact
yet in forest or grove
their dance is
their dance
is theirs
trees are not
wallflowers
now let us dance
with the wallflowers
Yes means yes
No means no
however i dress
wherever I go...
No is just
a slower form
of yes
said boss
to the new girl
No is just
Yes in disguise
said the rapist
to his chosen one
I beg to differ
said Edward to
Pat and Claire Joy
Or is rape a dance
rather than assault
Is a black man
tractor dragged
to pieces
just another dance?
No is not
a slower form
of yes
That simply
is just untrue.
It is not untrue. Using that standard, painting a portrait in purples, or reds, or perhaps heightening contrasts so small details cannot be seen is also untrue.
There is more than one voice in the chorus. Though I don't doubt the accuracy of your assessment of the yes/no dynamic in the context in which you've chosen to respond, I must nevertheless honor the voice I hear that heals me and inspires me to dance, to create, to love.
You open the dance floor to various conversations... you get various points of view. You say no is just a slower form of yes and bells start ringing on the the dance floor. Surprised? Shouldn't be.
not surprised…
yet surprised…
Various points of view are important if we are to see the world and the people in it more completely. However, my only surprise was to see my own point of view, spoken from my own experience, judged as "untrue."
"untrue"... yes that'd be what I'm saying. No is simply not a slower form of yes. To say it is true is simply to say that up is down without clarifying the uop for one is down for another in the sense of people being positioned differently in relationship to something.... in conversations philosophical and abstractly spiritual that can have some mileage apparently. But I do not accept in this world that No ever be promulgated as a slower version of Yes. That's akin to ignoring the rapes and the deaths while we "dance".
Of course it isn't in the world you are describing. Of course it isn't. I know that world, too, where those with power impose their version of yes and no on whomever they choose. And the victims learn sometimes to just shut the f*ck up because they won't be heard in any case, and even if their words are heard, they will be condemned, dismissed, or laughed at. That pain lasts longer than the physical pain of whatever was imposed on them.
But I am speaking not of that world, a narrow world where the dance is dim. I'm speaking of the dance itself. Life. Love. The dance that seems powerless but is just the opposite. When the wounded have stopped wounding new victims and have moved on, perhaps, the dance that is love sits patiently, gently, waiting for life to again emerge. For those that want to say yes to life but are afraid, the dance that includes "no is a slower form of yes", exists in this world. If you have ever wanted to say yes but were afraid, you might breathe in that understanding with painful gulps, in gratitude that the promise of Life will not disappear no matter how many times you need to protect your safety by saying "no." Nor will it impose. The Dancer understands the fear that binds another who wants to say yes but is mortally afraid of what might happen. I am eternally grateful for the Dancer, who knew that within my fearful "no" there was a wish that I could be free enough to say "yes." I had to say it myself, but the Dancer waited and witnessed my struggle. She didn't shrug her shoulders and walk away impatiently or hold me to my spoken words.
More than that I can't say right now. The memory of when I first encountered the dance of life 20 years ago and was afraid to say yes is reminding me of that pain.
Then simply you are speaking of saying yes to the dance and that saying no to the dance is a slower version of yes....
So what is it about my word dancing (perhaps to a drum beat in this sequence rather that to strings and wind instruments you may well be hearing) that is so effing irritating to you?
Are you of the opinion that only one dance at a time is permitted in your whirled? That seems very restrictive. Surely a true and profoundly sound spirituality (including dance) can exist in the real world AND allow the world surround to clarify things such as yes means yes, no means no....
Your personal revelation and the eventual epiphany of your dance are important to you and, to a lesser degree, important to me but fully in context of the dance. Name the context if you're going to put it in our heads.
One more time…
There is nothing effing irritating in your word dancing, and I don't understand how you read that into this conversation, unless you're standing too close to a mirror. Your words are good words, even when sometimes I don't understand them, and the only thing I pushed back on was when you said some of my words were untrue. As I look back, I could have sworn I'd acknowledged your different viewpoint, and simply said you were wrong in your assessment of my words in my viewpoint.
No, I'm not of the opinion that only one dance at a time is permitted here. Hells bells I don't dance a single dance myself most of the time! It would be restrictive, as you say. But it is also restrictive when another dancer tells me my steps are untrue. If you meant those words figuratively, I didn't get that. But you didn't get my words, either, it seems. The context you desire has been provided. I drew a circle around both views and showed you the relationship as it has played out in my own life. I wouldn't do that if I were effing irritated, but it does come at a cost. I'm tired now, and in a bit of pain. But that, too, is part of the dance.
What would be powerful would be presenting both views together as a form of balance. But let the words "untrue" be cried out from the victims, not from the dancers. When I'm told my words are untrue in that context, I've just visited my own victimhood again. So I guess I should thank you for giving me an opportunity to stand firm in the truth of my own vision.
You're welcome.
:-)
p.s. The muse in my dreams who taught me how to dance wore shoes. Now I know why he didn't dance barefoot. :-/
Well then we'll just have to disagree to agree. Not the first tim and probably not the last.
So when you were first invited (I just corrected that word from incited) to "the dance" and said your slower version of yes was it in an effing irritated way or was it more of that look down and away and shyly saying "oh my goodness I don't think I could do that."
I'm interested at this stage to know more about the steps of the dance which is not the dance but in which the dance is contained in seedling form.
go into the dark until you find the light.
ok
no, edward, neither. it was terror. she extended her hand in compassion. i was frightened and shut my eyes, holding them shut with my hands. she waited a bit before speaking. she asked me to open my eyes, saying it was important for my healing that i do so. it took awhile, but when i peeked between two fingers, i saw the monsters of my recurring nightmares superimposed on her extended arm. and then she put her hand down and we knew we had learned something.
Now that's your truth right there. Dancing is about truth not about hiding truth. Isn't that what you actually know? Isn't that what the ducking and weaving is about on occasion? And its easier for you to accept editing of your prose than of your poetry. :-)
So here's how this editor would have recommended your word the end point of your poem...
****
Yes is yes,
but no is just a slower form of yes
until we learn the steps
because
for me
the dance is all there is.
Let me get back to you on that. I want to see what manner of disclaimers other artists and visionaries use…
:-)
Yes, the dance is about truth.
love.
life.
If I had put the disclaimer line in as you would have suggested, would this conversation have taken place? Would understandings have deepened? Maybe, maybe not. At the point of one person not understanding or agreeing with the words of another, another canvas was presented where another creation was given the opportunity to emerge. Life, love, truth is like that. Always waiting for an opportunity to manifest.
And, for the literalists amongst us…
because
(for pat)
the dance is all there is.
:-)
While the smile is cewt the "literalist" comment is not. Perhaps it is a knot. Perhaps when you are "dancing" you must exclude rather than include others. Include as in allow others to be. That's actually quite common in this world. Spirituality in isolation is about hermits and monasticism. Has its place for those who want that. But is not possible on a busy corner and certainly not in the open on the internet.
This message is for the incorrigible recalcitrant dancers among us.
I suggest we simply recognize that we both have different points of view.
(1) That's been recognized all through this string of conversation. That's the essence of the point I've been making. I've recognized we have different points of view since our first contact.
(2) In my view your point was not true and is in fact a dangerous thing to take out of context. That remains my point and no talk of dance being some universal language will change that opinion in me.
(3) So rather that continue to interfere with your dream dancing I'll leave you to this and to those who pat Pat on the head but don't stick around for the fire works.
No further comments.
I'm closing this conversation.
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