Haibun Monday: A Little Romance

Today I am the pubtender at dVerse Poets’ Pub and….it is Haibun Monday! I am giving the prompt today and I want us to write about romance – first love, puppy love, unrequited, forever love, engagement, marriage…We’ve seen the wonderful movies:  Say Anything, Sleepless in Seattle, Casablanca, Murphy’s Romance, Shakespeare in Love…the list goes on and on.  Sometimes our romance is like a movie and sometimes, it is delightfully ordinary.  People are writing about the loves in their lives.  Come and join us for a little romance!

One on One
After long years of being alone after a tragically failed relationship of years, I had finally put myself out there. Typically, I went straight to computer dating. I placed an ad on AOL Personals and had received over 60 responses. There were the typical just looking for sex, needy whiny types, aggressive in your face types and about three actual real humans. I emailed them and decided on one. A local guy who loved roller coasters, was financially and emotionally stable, no baggage, and…a sense of humor. We met and began dating. Slowly my heart began to heal but still it held back. We both discovered we loved ballroom dancing and frequently went and enjoyed. Summer came and he was invited to a cousin’s big splashy wedding. We went, both of us dressed to the nines and when we heard the band at the reception, we were ready to rock. A few songs went by to give us the courage to get up and dance. None of his relatives knew he could ballroom dance.

We were sitting when the band began to play Hall and Oates’ One on One. My heart shriveled in my chest and I wanted to run away. This was the song I had taught my absent partner to dance to, to rhumba. It became our favorite song and a secret message between the two of us. Brad said to me, let’s dance. I looked at him in horror. No, not to this one. He frowned and insisted, yes – to this one. I reluctantly followed him to the dance floor and we began to rhumba. Rhumba – the dance of love. I remained stiff while he smoothly danced around me. Without warning, he grabbed me and dipped me down, my hair brushing the floor. Moving with me, he put his lips to my ears and whispered, “That was then, this is now. That was him, this is me.” He pulled me up close to him and held me close. My heart melted and I fell deeply and unrestrainedly in love with him, just in that moment. The song ended and we went back to our table. The rest of the evening we danced and spent time looking into each other’s eyes. We were married a year later, on that same date. And I am still head over heels in love with this true hearted man with eyes the color of a clear summer sky.

summer skies – cloudless
and bright with warm sun grows a
rose in a frozen heart

 

Celestial Dance Club

public domain artist rendering of 2016 alignment

Another entry for dVerse’s NEW poetry challenge:  Quadrille.  A poem using exactly 44 words and the prompt word – dance.  I cannot resist another.  January 20 – February 20, a rare alignment of five planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.  An incredible dance, well worth staying up or getting up for.  Come visit us at d’Verse -http://dversepoets.com/2016/01/18/quadrille-1/

Across space
Planets align – rare event –
an impromptu space dance begins
the planetary jukebox
Blasts out music from the years
And the planets rock in
Celestial line dances –
the Hustle, Madison, and Stroll
Boot Scootin’ Boogie, Electric Slide.
Yes! We’re dancin’ on the ceiling.

 

 

 

Quadrille 1: Snow dance

At dVerse today, we begin the first session of a new challenge:  Quadrille – a word prompt and a poem to be written to that word in 44 words exactly.  Bjorn is the ring leader in this wonderful adventure. I had to learn to do quadrilles years ago in Cotillion Class – a unique form of torture in the South.  Today the prompt word is “dance” – as David Bowie said, Let’s dance…put on your red shoes…let’s dance.  I love to dance and love to write poetry.  Winner!!! Come join us – http://dversepoets.com/2016/01/18/quadrille-1/

Snow swirling in the wind
Whispering in my ear
– Dance with me
to my silent music
Like Astaire and Rogers
I’ll lead you follow
Let me stir your blood –
our private dance
only the moon will see
Our white hot rhumba
In the night

public domain image

 

 

Friday Fun – Change Your Life

How’s those resolutions hanging, hey? First, set realistic goals and take realistic actions. For example, I want to eat more healthily. Good goad. Now…DON’T empty your pantry and fridge of all the food and buy a whole bunch of stuff you don’t like, won’t eat, don’t know how to prepare. Start in small steps: piece of fruit daily. More veggies with your meals. Cut down on fat and sodium (not cut out).

The change has to be inside you. You have to want it. With that in mind, I am posting a video from my favorite group o’ guys, World Order, from Japan. You may not understand the words but the message is clear: the choice and the way is inside you. Use it. Network with friends and … have fun.

Change your life – forever!!! Now get out there and rock those resolutions with your bad self…

Tango Tuesday: More Than This

I rarely post about having fibromyalgia and being clinically depressed.  My blog is not about that.  Many of you will probably say, But Kanzen Honey, you write haiku, poems, musings. recipes….so who knows what your blog is about?

True. but it ain’t about my fibromyalgia and clinical depression.  There are people who do blog about those and I have found their journeys to be inspiring and strengthening.  Rarely do any complain.  Many will note their current condition but almost, only in passing.  They are not letting their condition define them, they are defining their condition.  They are continuing to move forward on that journey.  And that, is the answer! And my inspiration.

Last night I was talking with a friend who told me I was being too hard on myself – to put on one of my favorite danceable hip-shaking songs and dance.  My depression has jumped on me with both feet and I know it is time for an adjustment with my meds.  So that is the goal today and to studystudystudy!!!

I am also going to do as my very wise friend suggests and dance.  But not to one of those hip shaking songs.  No, I think a nice smooth ballroom tango to a long time favorite song that suits my mood at this time. Oddly, I was singing and humming this song and swaying while, of all things, I was grilling burgers and a nice fat Vidalia onion <grin>. My husband asked, “what is that song?  Sounds like a tango?”  I said, Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry, More Than This.  He gaped at me.  I sometimes forget he is 10 years younger and we have a world of difference between us at times.

After dinner, I played the video for him so he could see and hear Bryan Ferry. He said, “that is lovely but so sad”. I told him “no, not really. Bittersweet, wistful, mono no aware(the pathos of things), sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt (we know the pathos of things and mortal things touch our hearts)”. He groaned, Oh lord, Japanese AND Latin….But he understood.

Years ago, one sweet summer morning, I held this song in my head as I danced with the waves on a deserted NC beach.  Today I’ve pushed back the table and chairs  so after dinner tonight, we can tango. A nice smooth holding, swaying, gliding, dancing with the waves tango. Sometimes, one does not always dance to express joy. Sometimes one dances as a homage to people and places gone, “like a dream in the night”.

I could feel at the time
There was no way of knowing
Fallen leaves in the night
Who can say where they´re blowing
As free as the wind
Hopefully learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning
More than this – there is nothing
More than this – tell me one thing
More than this – there is nothing
It was fun for a while
There was no way of knowing
Like a dream in the night
Who can say where we´re going
No care in the world
Maybe I´m learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning
More than this – there is nothing
More than this – tell me one thing
More than this – there is nothing

Friday Fun…Spontaneous Acts of Grocery Aisle Dancing.

My husband and I love to dance. We are big on ballroom dancing and we really like it when we can indulge in spontaneous acts of dance.

Several years ago, we were both of us tired out from a mutually hard day at work and both of us had worked after hours. We stopped at a local grocery chain to pick up a few necessary items. The store was almost empty. We were moseying down an aisle just sort of in a tired trance. At one end of the aisle was a hugely pregnant woman looking at cereal. Her husband was at the opposite end of the aisle looking at protein bars. The muzak was ubiquitous as usual but then, out of the blue, Every Breath You Take, began drifting around us. The man came sashaying down the aisle as if we were invisible. Within a few feet of his wife, he held out his arms and began crooning, “Come to me, my melon belly baby”. She went to him and he enfolded her and they began to waltz slowly to the music.

My husband and I stood entranced. The couple was not even vaguely self-conscious. When the song ended, they continued with their shopping and went down the next aisle. My husband and I were delighted and no longer tired. When the muzak version of Shake Your Booty started up, we were in the cleaning products aisle, all by ourselves. We looked at each other and in a blink, we were quick stepping up and down the aisle.

This has become a regular thing with us now. The last act of aisle dancing was last month, in another grocery, at 9:00 am in the morning. A couple of people were in the aisle with us, but we had plenty of room to Mambo to “Love is in the Air” – a favorite and even on Muzak, a darned good dance number. After a moment, a woman and her little girl joined us – twirling and bouncing with much laughter.  We so love dancing and especially with each other.  Ballroom dancing is a vital part of our romance with each other.  Tango, Paso Doble, Mambo, Waltz….each dance an expression of love and joy in each other.  And the spontaneous dance – I wish more people did these spontaneous acts of love and fun.

“Love is in the Air” is one of our favorites and is on a regular rotation in our Kitchen/Ballroom.  We stopped worrying about people thinking we were crazy long ago.  Love is in the air, in the grocery aisle, in the hardware store, in Walmart, in the apothecary, in the parking lot…

Love is in the air everywhere I look around – Love is in the air every sight and every sound – And I don’t know if I’m being foolish – I don’t know if I’m being wise – But it’s something that I must believe in – And it’s there when I look in your eyes. . . . (songwriters, Pennington/Lemaire, Performed by Paul Young). The dance sequence is from one of our favorite movies, Strictly Ballroom.

So again I say to you, let’s dance!

 

Throwback Tuesday – a little more romance

Last night, my husband and I were listening to a radio station that plays hits of the 80’s and 90’s. I was ironing clothes and he was washing dishes. Nice, dull domesticity. Then, on the radio began yet another one of Rick Astley’s wonderful danceable songs. I started shaking my hips and I heard my guy drying his hands. In a breath, he grabbed and pulled me to him and we began to dance. He smiled down at me, “Remember the first time we danced to this?” I grinned and said, “oh my yes!”. And we danced ourselves into a sweat.

Years ago, at the wedding reception of one his numerous cousins, we were sitting at a table and watching the bride and groom gyrate and several guests twisting, jumping, clogging, whatever it was…this song came on, an oldie the DJ had thrown into the mix in an effort to get more people on the dance floor and a song with a definite beat that anyone could follow. It was Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”. Inside, I cringed. This song had had a lot of meaning to me when it came out in 1987 but now it just meant memories and heartache.

My husband and I had been dating several months and felt a definite connection along with our many similar interests: odd bits of Trivia, Star Trek, Civil War history, mathematics, good food, and dancing. It never ceased to amaze me, considering how clumsy he was at some things, how well he could dance and how good he was in martial arts. We enjoyed each other’s company but me holding back, afraid of another massive heartbreak. He sensed it but never pried.

So, that song came one and he took my hand and said, “let’s dance”. I shook my head. “It’s a good one. Let’s show these folks how it’s done”. Reluctantly I stood up and we stepped out on the small floor. In about a minute, we had people standing up, watching, clapping in time. At one point, he pulled me close and sang in my ear:
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you…

I gave him a little push and said, Don’t. Don’t sing, just dance. He looked down at me and before I knew it, he had dipped me down in a graceful  Latin tango dip. Close to my lips he whispered, “That was him. That was then. This is me. This is now”. I looked up into his sweet blue eyes and thought of another pair of eyes – brown, almond shaped, who had left a few years earlier. I closed my eyes and my love came closer and kissed me. This sweet man, 10 years younger and a private romantic had laid it out for me. He pulled me back up into his arms and we did one last swirl. The music ended. We stood looking at each other and his relatives all cheered and clapped. We then went back to our table to sit. Several cousins came by and said, We didn’t know he even knew how to dance! I thought, there is a lot you don’t know about this quiet, serious man. I thought, there is a lot I don’t know.

A couple of months later, he used another Rick Astley song to propose to me. And it is true, when he sang those words, he meant them. So…..If you haven’t had a dance with the love of your life lately, or sang them a love song, or grabbed them and kissed them as if it was your second date, then do it. And hey, let’s dance!