Ecstatic mimicry

Rita Dove, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, was the first African-American to be named Poet Laureate by the Library of Congress. In addition to poetry, she has written a play, a novel and numerous collections of essays. Several of her poems have been set to music. She’s taught creative writing at a number of universities, including the University of Virginia since 1989.

I chose “American Smooth” for today’s National Poetry Month entry because I found out that she and her husband of 45 years, Fred Viebahn, are avid ballroom dancers. This poem perfectly captures that magic of the waltz or the foxtrot. 

“American Smooth”

We were dancing—it must have
been a foxtrot or a waltz,
something romantic but
requiring restraint,
rise and fall, precise
execution as we moved
into the next song without
stopping, two chests heaving
above a seven-league
stride—such perfect agony,
one learns to smile through,
ecstatic mimicry
being the sine qua non
of American Smooth.
And because I was distracted
by the effort of
keeping my frame
(the leftward lean, head turned
just enough to gaze out
past your ear and always
smiling, smiling),
I didn’t notice
how still you’d become until
we had done it
(for two measures?
four?)—achieved flight,
that swift and serene
magnificence,
before the earth
remembered who we were
and brought us down.

 

 

 

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