Physical Therapy
Written for Rosencrantz.
Back, forth, back &
forth
We're dancing with a
red-orange-green-yellow-blue ball of colours
that flashes in the air between us
And the old man leans forward with a young smile
the girl has cherry juice fingers, stained red
Her fingers are smooth
when he touches her hands
to take the ball
How beautiful we are! back &
forth
& in between sometimes the ball of colours hesitates
in the air
and flashes colour
yellow like a sun inside this inside world of old smells and new
medicines where
the young man is shaped like an old man
the girl has cherry juice fingers, that match
the red stripe on
our ball of colours
Blue is the colour of paper cups that hold pills
Green is the colour of windowsill plants and father's day cards
a hundred years old
The cat who
dashes
under our feet is coloured
Orange
& back & forth
we dance with our red-orange-green-yellow-blue ball of
colours as
The old man leans forward with a young smile
(people are forgotten here
people come people go & nobody
stays for
ever)
To-day the old man smiles which
he has not smiled in a long long time--not for many father's day cards
Maybe he has not seen the sun
Now the sun is flashing in the controlled-climate air that smells of
disinfectant
a big yellow and red and green and blue and orange ball of colour sun
which he catches in his hands
& passes back
&
the girl catches it in cherry-red fingers
Maybe he is smiling because she is smiling too
and we go on dancing here back &
forth &
back & forth which is
the sweetest kind of dancing
it feels like slow motion
trapped in time
we freeze with our hands out
The old man smiles a young smile
it makes his ears stick out and his face lift up and his eyes disappear inside a hundred wrinkles
and shows his broken teeth
and makes him the most handsome man
in all the world
In between the ball hesitates
a cat the colour of orange
dashes
beneath our feet
(somebody cries
somebody laughs
somebody screams
people talk)
It feels like slow motion with our hands out
the girl knows his name some days but he
never knows hers
Blue is the colour of paper cups full of pills which
is how they interrupt the dance with pills
making the old man old
(but here people are used to blue paper cups
old women can take pills without thinking
the girl with cherry red fingers makes faces when she closes her eyes and takes vitamin tablets
old women can take pills without noticing)
One minute & twenty three seconds pass
The girl picks up the ball again
&
back &
forth &
back &
forth
red-orange-green-yellow-blue
flashes in the air and once more
we are dancing
in another one minute & twenty three seconds
Maybe he will smile again
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