Thursday, May 28, 2009

The Man in Motley

The man in motley
dances there
up and down a tilted stair,
lightly.

He does not show
us where
(unless it is the stair)
nor why, but only how to go.

He dances lightly there,
first up, then down;
he dances in the air,
he dances on the ground.

His grace is learned,
his smile a powdered face:
he turns to counterturn,
to dance in place.

Is it enought to follow
a dancer in the air,
a motley man on a tilted stair,
no matter how he goes?

The man in motley
dances there
up and down a tilted stair,
lightly.
-Bill K. Boydstun

The Man in Motley is reprinted here with the permission of its author. The poem originally appeared in First Harvest.

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