Armies of Dancers

I am thinking about armies.
Armies of dancers.
Squadrons, platoons, units, companies of dancers.

And whenever fighting breaks out, they move.
By sea, by air, overland-they get there fast.
And they dance onto the battlefields & into the bunkers & at headquarters,
and the amazing thing is that the movement is so honest & compelling
that the soldiers with guns begin to sing, making music for the dance.
Thousands of dancers
surrounded by thousands of singers with guns,
shooting bullets high into the air making rhythm for the dance.
And the motion & the sound tell a story of how to plant the weapons & grow food.
How bullets become wildflowers, & rifles grow corn or potatoes or rice.
Fields of landmines become forests.
And stealth bombers turn into oases with cool water & birdsong & shade.

I want to see this happen.
I think I am going to need a lot of help.

—- author unknown

This entry was posted in Poetry on by .

About Jilsarah

I dance for tranformation of my being and for world around me. I work with individuals seeking to move energies in their bodies and in their lives. Dance and Spirit Work Training: In 1991, I joined Dance New England (www.dne.org) I am a trained Transformative Mediator and work with people in conflict to help move us from feelings of fear and confusion to a place of empowerment and recognition.

11 thoughts on “

  1. matthew

    If wars were fought by poets

    If wars were fought by poets, the Pentagon would pay five thousand dollars for alliterations in iambic pentameter

    If wars were fought by poets, there would be serious statues guarding the gates of Whitman Square Park; Shakespeare would be the fifty-dollar bill.

    … there would be a sonnet in every basement.

    If wars were fought by poets, every child would learn 4 R’s – readin’, writin’, rhymin’, and ‘rithmetic

    If wars were fought by poets, crimson splashed canvas would remind us of birth.

    … library cards would be mandatory.

    If wars were fought by poets, there would be fewer man-boys torn and bleeding, lyingcryingdying cold faraway, where their loversmothersbrothers can never say goodbye.

    If wars were fought by poets, the only borders would be our minds.

    If wars were fought by poets, I would be a soldier.

  2. Stephanie Post author

    This list has been forming for the past day or two in my head, and on paper. It comes from re, meaning again. Again in the the form that I/we can reinvent and reclaim the past. I am doing that. I am that. This list is a reassurance. These words are in all of my sentences, and I am relieved for that. re re re re…..

    Top Re’s, the repeats:

    Readjust, Reassure, Rebel, Receive, Reclaim, Recognize, Reenact, Reinvent, Relationship, Remodel, Remove, Repeat, Repress, Reserve, Resign, Resort, Respond, Restore, Restrict, Retort, Retrieve, Reunion, Revel, Review, Rework

    React
    Reaction
    Readjust
    Readjust
    Real
    Realign
    Realign
    Reap
    Reassemble
    Reassure
    Reassure
    Reassure
    Rebalance
    Rebate
    Rebel
    Rebel
    Recall
    Recap
    Recede
    Receipt
    Receive
    Receive
    Recess
    Reciprocate
    Reciprocity
    Recite
    Reclaim
    Reclaim
    Recode
    Recognize
    Recognize
    Recoil
    Recollect
    Recommend
    Recondition
    Reconnaissance
    Reconnect
    Reconvene
    Recoup
    Recreate
    Recumbent
    Redefine
    Redial
    Redo
    Reenact
    Reenact
    Reflect
    Reform
    Refrain
    Reframe
    Refresh
    Refuel
    Rehash
    Reheat
    Reincarnate
    Reinstate
    Reinterpret
    Reinvent
    Reinvent
    Rekindle
    Relate
    Relationship
    Relationship
    Release
    Relief
    Relive
    Relocate
    Reluctant
    Remake
    Remember
    Remiss
    Remodel
    Remodel
    Remorse
    Remove
    Remove
    Remove
    Renaissance
    Rename
    Renovate
    Repack
    Repeat
    Repeat
    Repent
    Represent
    Repress
    Repress
    Reprimand
    Reprogram
    Require
    Resemble
    Resent
    Reserve
    Reserve
    Reside
    Reside
    Residence
    Residual
    Residue
    Resign
    Resign
    Resolve
    Resort
    Resort
    Resort
    Respect
    Respond
    Respond
    Rest
    Rest
    Restate
    Restore
    Restore
    Restore
    Restrict
    Restrict
    Resurface
    Resurgence
    Resurrect
    Retire
    Retort
    Retort
    Retort
    Retrace
    Retract
    Retreat
    Retribution
    Retrieve
    Retrieve
    Retrograde
    Return
    Reunion
    Reunion
    Revalue
    Revamp
    Reveal
    Revel
    Revel
    Revel
    Revert
    Review
    Review
    Revile
    Revive
    Revolution
    Revolve
    Reward
    Rewind
    Rewire
    Rework
    Rework

  3. sarah

    Our hearts went that way
    to rest
    to stillness
    and to warmth
    reassuring

    your voice was in motion
    the rhythms you mastered
    soothing my tired body
    carrying me as waves do

    you said you couldn’t help yourself
    you loved me

    your love entered
    mingled with my soul

    settled in
    waiting for the end
    for peace

    then came the flow of blood

    ah yes

    that’s when your words changed

    your rhythms out of time with my own
    you chose to hurt me

    then left

    there i was
    alone

    expected to cross my legs
    keep my mouth shut

    you called other women
    brought them in

    pushed down hard with your will
    your eyes making contact

    insistent that i remain quiet

    saying take the pain
    without complaining

    saying to me it would be a disaster if our union bore fruit

    i cried then

    i cut my hair off

    reaching
    for the guides above me
    inside of me

    the mourning flowed
    fell away
    along with the shame
    your touch went far
    now touching myself doesn’t work

    this is what was

    my songs…..
    with the muse

    dancing together

    telling our story with my voice

    are you listening still?

  4. mary tierney

    i breathe in and i breathe out
    i don’t know it
    i don’t breathe in and i don’t breath out
    i don’t know it

    i now know it

  5. Rick Anderson

    standsalone

    be a rock in God’s pocket
    my sense of loneliness
    his loneliness for me
    isalone in solitude
    not alone,
    yet
    standsalone
    dancesalone
    sleepsalone
    twoalone for a time

    God Alone
    lovesalone

    playsalone
    God Alone
    communion

    beached hampton rocks
    rubbed down
    bleached by the sun
    radiating the moon
    sacramentsalone
    whilealone

    allalone works his ways

    I just want to be a rock in God’s pocket

    rda
    5 Nov 2008

  6. Rick Anderson

    she shatters
    glass shatters
    shatters those eyes

    breathing breaks
    water falls
    batters those eyes

    still her stillness
    still in all her steel
    she assembles a phoenix
    splashes into sand
    wings remain
    dove borne stillness
    of words
    of wings
    of the wind

    your subtle wayswords to wings…

    3 Nov 2008

  7. Rick Anderson

    jim…digs in
    flaunts the jim-jams

    log-jam lover
    300 year old cedar tree
    maker of many masks

    the killer whale is his favorite
    plays her black and white recorder

    lines everywhere
    roof line
    power line
    lines on your face

    she waves those powerful navy lips
    enormous dangling hairlines
    mooring
    she tells a story
    waxes away home…

    and the waves

    Pacific Northwest
    coastline, where Bigfoot surfs
    She’s big breasted,
    the beast is mesmerized by her speech

    about those eyes
    the killer whale waits
    for those who crumb the canopy of parachuting plankton

    airborne
    she rocks
    juts out the jim-Jams
    the treachery of feeling

    of holding onto the log-jam
    radio jams
    band jams one more time

    Silent is my silence
    Is an olive with a pit
    is a present from a peasant
    is the excess that rots

    is my service

    grace is the Iranian insists
    blind humility

    25 Oct 2008

  8. Rick Anderson

    as it comes
    slowly
    solitude
    meandering
    winding its way through me…
    my ever unwinding
    feeling my way blindly
    reeling from this upending sense
    of needing to be quiet
    of seeking to be silent
    of wanting to be…
    knowing that with You
    as it comes
    slowly

    24 Mar 2008

  9. Rick Anderson

    39

    wwhere did it all go
    sleeping
    waking
    you and I

    where does it all go
    smell of Fall
    oxidation of ferrous leaves
    you and I

    two trees praise pain
    lush pomace love
    ferrous speckled leaves
    around our eyes
    up and down our mouths
    cheek to creek
    shadows
    intertwined hurting roots

    where will it all go
    you and I
    forgetting sea
    the grip begets silence

    you and I
    so great
    so lush
    so green
    no more ferrous speckled eyes
    leaves, looking into the sun

    12/11/2008
    rda

  10. Amy

    If wars were fought by poets

    If wars were fought by poets, the Pentagon would pay five thousand dollars for alliterations in iambic pentameter

    If wars were fought by poets, there would be serious statues guarding the gates of Whitman Square Park; Shakespeare would be the fifty-dollar bill.

    … there would be a sonnet in every basement.

    If wars were fought by poets, every child would learn 4 R’s – readin’, writin’, rhymin’, and ‘rithmetic

    If wars were fought by poets, crimson splashed canvas would remind us of birth.

    … library cards would be mandatory.

    If wars were fought by poets, there would be fewer man-boys torn and bleeding, lyingcryingdying cold faraway, where their loversmothersbrothers can never say goodbye.

    If wars were fought by poets, the only borders would be our minds.

    If wars were fought by poets, I would be a soldier.

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