The Guy Who Doesn’t Dance

What I’m here for I’m sure
is to be the guy who doesn’t dance

Not the guy who wants to but can’t
Who can’t get out of his seat

But the guy who could but won’t
because it’s not the right moment

When it is the right moment
I have no problem dancing

Get my ass up and swing it
Stomp a mudhole in rhythm’s ass

But it’s gotta be right and righteous
Gotta make the move special when I move

Because not every juxtaposition
of time and song and mood is perfect

I prefer to wait until all three are close
and have some faith that I can only add to it

Not every poem is beautiful
except in the larger sense that all human effort

is beautiful — not every song
is worth hearing except to honor the singer

for trying — I have learned to only dance
when I feel the honest need to honor

what I’m hearing and feeling so
if you see me dancing (and let’s be sure

to say that I do not care
who sees me dancing)

that’s saying something
about something

I am on earth to be the guy
who shocks you when he dances

Make a moment of it
Tell someone you saw it

no matter how bad it was
The magic is in retelling

It won’t be magic
unless someone makes a spell of it