"foxtrot" poems
** “Except for needs I can pack everything I have
into my old black sea-bag.” * **
"I wish I had written that line,
I said loud enough for him to hear."
He shuffled around in his stool
and raised his cup to get
hit with a refill.
Frustration wiggle I call it,
you know like when your dad
couldn’t let you struggle with a puzzle.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
announced his irritation
"Where have you been,
swimming shallow side?"
"I stated swatting away needs
like mosquitoes on sweat
when I was seven."
He peered past his coffee,
furrowed his brow
and rubbed his tongue
over his lower lip.
"Whiskey Tango Foxtrot,
why do you keep saying that, I asked"
"Guess you’ve never been in the military.
College man I reckin,
fancy degrees
and you don't know Alpha Zulu?"
* From Alpha Zulu by Gary Lilley
May 26, 2014
May 26, 2014 at 9:43 AM UTC
you won't even look at me in school,
but when I show up unannounced
on Sunday mornings with smoothies,
your mom welcomes me in,
you descend the stairs with your graceful, conservative foxtrot of a gait.
you hug me hello and we laugh about things like normal people.
your dad comes in from the yard work to say hello to me,
ask me where I'm headed to college.
everything is the way it should be but
you won't even look at me in school.
May 30, 2014
May 30, 2014 at 11:54 PM UTC
Will you dance with me?
Even in the stormy seas
Will you dance with me?
Let our spirits soar and swing
Can we hold on
While letting go
At the same time
Of everything
Throwing our cares
Like brilliant kites
Into the wind
Watch the sunrise
Never looking back
Again
Watch the sunset
Our inhibitions
Free to
Bend
Will you dance with me?
Illuminating
Follow me into the sky
Reaching out beyond the top
Our hands are linked
We cannot stop
Can we spin
And fall
And sink
Can we glide
And blaze
Within the blue
Twisting and turning
Like eagle lovers
Often do
Will you dance with me?
Let our inhibitions chime
Across the heavens
A storm of flames
All brilliant-like
We are
The sound
Of lightening
As we
Tango through the stars
Exploring galaxies
And Mars
There is no limit
To how far
We will frolic
In our waltz
The universe
Is ours
Will you dance with me?
Vibrate from head to toe
Rhumba and foxtrot
With our hearts
Whirl and sway
A feather dance
Of native love
In
Every
Way
Will you dance with me?
Can we spin
And fall
And sink
Can we glide
And blaze
Within the blue
Oh, how I want to be
Twisting and turning
Here with you
Like eagle lovers
Often do
Will you dance with me?
A dance for all time
A samba, a strut
A step where
We unwind
Releasing our fears
Painting our tears
Watching the sky
Become the canvas
Of our eyes
No longer
Dreaming
Of your
Spirit
Catching you
Catching me
Catching you
Eternally
Dance with me...
tHE tERRY tREE
Oct 29, 2014
Oct 29, 2014 at 1:42 PM UTC
There are no ways to safeword out of this life.
I know, I’ve tried them all.
Elephant, apple, Alaska, amen.
Tried screaming anything into the pillow my face is pushed down into,
Whiskey, tango, foxtrot, stop
Exhausted my vocabulary against the blanket my fists are balled into fists against,
Anything to make the beatings stop
But they just
Keep
Coming.
In **** having a safeword is like wearing a seatbelt.
There are rules about having one
And the ones who choose to do without
Are taking risks.
We are born without lifejackets, without seatbelts and safecut scissors
Without breakaway glass or rubberized mats
Without any way to make the world slow down
Let us catch our breath,
And jump back in.
There are no hard limits in the real world.
So we bite into our gags and wait for the session to end.
Elephant, apple, Alaska, amen.
Nov 2, 2013
Nov 2, 2013 at 1:02 AM UTC
Probably just a man with his gloves on backwards
Darkwood doves in his outercoat pocket
figs and fossils hanging off his earlobes
silky cigarette smoke scooting up his fingers
got a moody mad eye and he knows how to use it
when he gets a brain block,
he breaks it with a breeze block
nudges out mice and shrews from his foot box
fixes up his old bow-tie for the foxtrot
there gonna see his burnt out knees and elbows
easy to fix though, with a bit of Velcro
Jun 24, 2013
Jun 24, 2013 at 12:17 PM UTC
Sweet lips encrusted in sugar from the hot doughnuts at the steam fair.
Baked in the dusty sunshine of an August afternoon in North London.
I would roam these streets from childhood into adulthood,
Drinking £2,50 wine at bus stops only to get thrown out of the pub for illusionary bathroom shots
Our real crime? Being too young.
Since then, i have drunk Spanish manzanilla in an old tobacco store room
Transformed into a house where wafts of old book smell mingling with the scent of baked terra cotta and lemon trees sweeps down dark corridors revealing hidden gems of traveled souls.
Where there are streets that belong to Phoenician women , Arab traders , Christian crusaders and now the Spanish folk
All these names we go by , yet still human we stand
Up on roof tops, smoking sneaky roll ups to the elegance of storks
Building nests on church domes and castle walls
Monuments to remind the future
Graffiti on the natural landscape , the ruins read " we waz ere"
From shores of the Atlantic to shores of the Atlantic
Brooklyn rises
The night bus to eat pizza alarmed me
How were the buses so different ?
London's told you where you were
New York's Made you suss it out for yourself
In the company of a Father i hardly knew and the Mother of my new sibling
Child ,
Who will you become ?
Shaped by the contrast of your parents skin , your curled hair yet to emerge from fresh formed follicles
Rest easy ,
This world Ain't so harsh
I found God at the bottom of a bowl of noodles
Simply sitting there , lazing about as i licked my lips of the residual chillies and sugar
I deal in the order of paradoxes
Born by the sea only to grow up in the 'so called' luxury of the cities jungle
Although, resting now in the moon soaked mountain air ,
no city can compare, to the fragrance of flowers that bloom and scent only for those who brave the night
I used to be afraid of the dark ,
Now i make love with it.
Jul 16, 2013
Jul 16, 2013 at 3:26 PM UTC
The Magical Date
Last nite was a celebration!
And before it all begun
He held me by my hand so close
We were off to leprechaun land!
The naughty elf with his impish pranks
His sinful teases and wanton ways
His playful gestures, fractious delights
He rushed me off to his wilful fays
We found ourselves in a Keatsian bower
In 'embalmed darkness', 'mong 'white hawthorns'
It was fragrant with the jasmine veils
That covered the roof of rosy thorns
we laughed and sang old happy numbers
we talked our hearts out gleefully
After aeons of blue moon we'd finally met
A magical date it had to be!
And so when i looked up to his eyes
It held mine in a purple gaze
In a trice of a second he was off with me
Speeding through the verduous maze
Help! i cried but held on tight
Our windswept hair, our amorous plight
His fervour, vigor, force and power
Was all i felt that wondrous night
Elf or gnome, genie or sprite
A naughty brownie or the nisse vampire
Bogie, goblin, fairy, nymph
He carried me through the forests dire...
So just wen I can close my eyes
Just when i feel im missing him
He's there as he says hes there with me
Off we go into the woodlands dim
We dance a waltz, a salsa true
A foxtrot, a ballet in embrace tight
In white moonshine, in purple rain
When dewdrops catch the morning light.
And then again with every dawn
The magic wanes, the elf resigns
To mossy groves and sylvan lands
And the elfin grottos of my mind.
Dec 20, 2011
Dec 20, 2011 at 12:37 AM UTC
Twist and twist
That's what they all do
Twist and twist
**** those insides of mine
Why can't they learn that I don't like to tango
"Eye Spy with my little eye"
The reason why my insides learn to dance
Feats of contortion on display
Each pair of salsa dancers going for the gold
These duos never know when to quit
They want those mighty 10s but...
**** this brain of mine
This little dancer is satisfied with last place
He once was prized to finish out top tier
**** this brain, stop shaking feathers
Get the foxtrot down and finish this waltz
otherwise let the inside rest they having feelings too
Feb 9, 2013
Feb 9, 2013 at 5:53 AM UTC
c o n t a c t
up-stairs roof-top
toe-tips the-edge long-drop
flourish/ball-lightning echo-foxtrot
plunder/of the gods/thunderous once more
glance-down and it’s merry-go-round
vertigo lost - and - found
you shout my name
c o n t r a c t
impact cement
face-torn to shape a smile
laugh 'after a while crocodile'
; the last witty thought my mind does attract
devil pact and the gravity
mortally i n v e s t e d
arrested now
c o n t a c t
Jan 22, 2023
Jan 22, 2023 at 9:25 PM UTC
Rock my pelvis
Like a pervey grandma's scorn
**** my big daddy
Like it's ****** ****
Dance on my fatty
Like a foxtrot patty
May 6, 2014
May 6, 2014 at 1:48 AM UTC
Baby why you hit me up
At three am?
Greet me with a lazy sup
And break my heart
Oh
Darling did you think this through
Darling didn't you know I'd miss you
And for all this time
I thought we'd still be in love
All this time
I thought we'd never be done
But life carries on
And now I can do things
I couldn't do before
I can pick my nose
And slam the door
You may not be here
But I still can breathe
You may not be near
But I am still me
So I'm dancin' on my own!
(Foxtrot, jive, samba)
And I know more than I've ever known
(Charleston, swing, salsa)
See me dancin' on my own
(Foxtrot, jive, samba)
My heartbreak has made me grown
(Charleston, swing, salsa)
And baby!
I'm puttin' you in a corner
And baby!
I ain't gonna be a mourner
When sunrise come knockin' on my door
Baby, you won't be on my mind anymore
Got my mind on an electric buzz
Got me drunk on a dizzyin' high
I'm spinning dusk to dawn
And I'll forget we'd ever said hi
So I'm dancin' on my own!
(Foxtrot, jive, samba)
And I know more than I've ever known
(Charleston, swing, salsa)
See me dancin' on my own
(Foxtrot, jive, samba)
My heartbreak has made me grown
(Charleston, swing, salsa)
And baby!
I'm puttin' you in a corner
And baby!
I ain't gonna be a mourner
When sunrise come knockin' on my door
Baby, you won't be on my mind anymore
Oh, anymore
Baby you took my heart
Ripped it apart
And I'm just pickin' up the parts
Part of me wishin' that we'll be together
Another part knowing that we shall never speak again
But now you can do things
That you want to do
Hit up that girl
You'd always talk to
Hope she eat you well
Like I use to
Hope she is just as good
As I was to you
Still, I'm dancin' on my own!
(Foxtrot, jive, samba)
And I know more than I've ever known
(Charleston, swing, salsa)
See me dancin' on my own
(Foxtrot, jive, samba)
My heartbreak has made me grown
(Charleston, swing, salsa)
And baby!
I'm puttin' you in a corner
And baby!
I ain't gonna be a mourner
When sunrise come knockin' on my door
Baby, you won't be on my mind anymore
Jul 7, 2017
Jul 7, 2017 at 12:42 AM UTC
I tried to write
a novel
once.
It was about a town
called Foxtrot,
Kentucky
in the hot Georgia summer
and three people
that lived there.
There was a symbolic
dogwood tree (it stood
for innocence)
and it rotted away
when the femme fatale
was *****
Her lover ***** her; he was
apparently a violent man.
Her other lover mourned
but was not sad anymore
once he had shot
the ******
Then in recompense
the lady opened herself to him.
"1+0=3" she said.
And that was when he realized
that the universe is
*** a battle
of creative impulses.
Someday I'll go back
and try to write about Foxtrot,
Kentucky again.
This time, the man will be *****
and we will see what
the universe is like for him
then.
May 14, 2014
May 14, 2014 at 5:04 PM UTC
When I think about that poem
I used to have a sour taste in my mouth
You have used me for good, here and there
I love being here and dear I’ll gladly take those punches
BECAUSE
Sweetheart, I’m your Superman
I don’t have to be invincible for you
Just a friend who can protect you
And I have done my job well
BECAUSE
Sweetheart, I’m your Superman
I will always be here to protect you
No matter who says what, or even the circumstances
I love you and that’s that
BECAUSE
Sweetheart, I’m your Superman
Don’t worry, you aren’t ****** if you do
Or even ****** if you don’t
Trust me I see that my job is clearer now
BECAUSE
Sweetheart, I’m your Superman
Although I am usually very able to fulfill my job
Right now, this Superman found her Kryptonite
So I hope I don’t have to beg
But if I start to fall
SWEETHEART
Will you be my Superman?
Mar 11, 2012
Mar 11, 2012 at 1:14 AM UTC
the way you look at me, the way you make me smile
the way you move, the way you style
i move mountains for you, a thousand miles
wit' you, i'm never doubtin', worship the fountain
the club is open, you can feel the vibe
lights on the dancefloor, lights on the dancefloor
baby, you so handsome, you are the ransom
love you in the air, we got a certain flair
floating over oceans, frozen magic moments
as i hold you tight, so precious, precious
jackpot, jackpot, i will make your back hot
meet you at the hotspot, within the night clouds
put dem lights out, i'm newsy, right to it
let's do it, you moan like "i knew it"
crystals in the water, you stop to breathe
and now be good baby, don't leave the hood baby
sad dancers, what are the chances?
do you have anything to live for?
what are the chances, sad dancers?
what do you live for? you know the answer?
what do i live for? i don't know, fo' sho'
do i have a motto? i don't, i be blotto
operation foxtrot, observate the top, top
dealing in souls, workin' deep holes
sadness is flowin' through me, like yumy
i'm feelin' toony, like betty boo blew me
in times of appetite, you meet the true me
in terms of copyright, you meet the true you
i'm at the building site, lightin' the dynamite
everybody hype hype, don't mind the twilight
girl in the moonlight, down in the snownite
the flakes are blowing, and you are snowwhite
a glow is in your smile, and your eyes are twinkling
i will buy you an island, ice bags and diamonds
all dem words, all dem worlds are shinin'
all you need is me, you just want a lion
sad dancers, what are the chances?
do you have anything to live for?
what are the chances, sad dancers?
what do you live for? you know the answer?
Sep 15, 2020
Sep 15, 2020 at 10:35 PM UTC
Self consumption & suspension
dance Tango.
Glee & bliss
perform synchronized ballet.
Ignorance & fragmentation
slouch through a Foxtrot.
Trust & disgust
mirror in pantomime.
Words & action
engage in seizure-like Jazz.
Amusement & confusion
amass in couple's Swing
Pride & pity
pound in Pogo
Compulsion & obligation
grind in obscene burlesque.
Desire gives Prudence a lap dance.
*Their red eyes meet, but never reach.
Their shaking hands and feet reach, but never touch.*
Feb 8, 2014
Feb 8, 2014 at 12:22 AM UTC
She chose me from among the younger boys to cross the long floor
and on the far side, in the half-curtained sunlight
she took hold of me and my innocent limbs
- she helped me reach up her long back, guiding my trembling hands -
and then she enveloped me, joining her body to mine.
I could feel the damp of her warmth,
our bodies rolling together while her music set the pace
which I struggled to maintain, but somehow I kept in step
with her rise and fall, with her supple flow,
navigating this complex dance,
deep in this safe space
in the circle of her practiced arms.
The pre-pubescent boys looked on
and the teacher's graceful Foxtrot took me
across the full length of the room
from boyhood to something new.
Jun 19, 2022
Jun 19, 2022 at 3:13 PM UTC
When I think of that night
I have a sour taste in my mouth
You want me here and there but I can only take so much
I can only be here and only take so many punches
BUT
Sweetheart I’m no Superman
I wish I was invincible so we could be together
Maybe it’s best that we aren’t
I wish that I could fight like you do
BUT
Sweetheart I’m no Superman
You say you care and you say you love
But I can’t see past your wall of mistrust
You want me to be a hero but that’s a wall I can’t get through
BECAUSE
Sweetheart I’m no Superman
I’ve dealt and stayed for as long as I could
This can’t be the end for us
I don’t want to say this and I can’t believe I am
BUT
Sweetheart I’m no Superman
I’m loved and wanted now, needed
Cared for and let in to help like I should
I wanted you so bad
BUT NOW
Sweetheart, I’m her Superman
Nov 27, 2011
Nov 27, 2011 at 1:53 AM UTC
what i write
here,
now ,
is truth
condensed, distilled
into poetic moonshine
to be consumed
by a creative soul
and then
for that soul to begin to dance
the exotic fandango,
or
the quickfire foxtrot
or
the haunting vienna waltz
whichever,
whatever,
beats,
within the willing heart
that dwells with quiet,
wistful wanting
in the backroom
of their psyche
so,
ignited
and
on fire
they dance
then,
they laugh
a joyous
unbound sound
producing
an exuberant euphoria
and a destiny of such
wonderous flight
so that,
they, you, me,
would see
the cosmos
from above at night
and marvel
at the stars,
stitched against the cloth
of darknest blue
then,
learn to love them
one and all,
as they,
those bright, shining things
float,
fly,
crash,
burn and fall,
for
as scribes,
we must learn
to write all the stages
of a
star's plight.
not just the
dizzying ephemeral heights.
Sep 4, 2014
Sep 4, 2014 at 5:03 PM UTC
I was a dreamer content with all my blessings
Striving for perfection; wishing my life away
I lived inside of lala land and flew into the sun
I drove towards high ambition but steered with blind hesitation
Always second guessing cupid's arrow with a microscope
Like a pessimist on a soap box, defensively corrupt
I was bleeding my soul out onto invisible horizontal lines
Crying out for that someone who had once stabbed me in the dark
Blaming all my issues on things I can't take back
I don't know why or what kept me so amused with trouble
Something in the heat of danger keeps me satisfied
You were different
Something difficult but interesting
Calm and collective
Someone I could never be
You were a wayward child running from the truth
Just looking for an escape or just another muse to keep you entertained
You were filled with the chase of recklessness
I was filled with light of faith
I was uptight at somedays, but you let time lead you astray
And the peak of the adrenaline keeps you stimulated just barely enough...
Just enough to keep you coming back for seconds
Just enough to sugar coat your stomach
Just enough to keep you smiling on the edge who knows what
You needed something to keep your eyes from rolling in and out of sleep
You were used to the sour aftertaste broken promises and lies
I was highlighting the ultimate and envying the game
I was use to disappointments and devouring the pain of the unforgivable
But I was challenging and you admired it
We were opposite like Mercury and Neptune
But all those underestimated ingredients are what makes the dancing possible
As we Tango past the moon and we Foxtrot across the stars
I pirouette through all the difficulties and we fall back into reality
And you catch me here on planet earth
Right back to the beginning, where it feels like home
Jul 24, 2013
Jul 24, 2013 at 10:18 AM UTC
A jot, a blot is all I need
To give my thoughts their sweetest deed
I swing and swirl this loot of ink
As letters dance to what I think
Think not and write you cannot do
Like Napoleon to Waterloo
For what is war but a loss in wager
A broken truce in a piece of paper?
Papers shrink and end in bins
As writers make their painful sins
But how can that be not far better
Than to hallow one with a price much greater?
Greater than the boldest force
And the many knights in their battle horse
Is a gobbled pride left sealed in wax
To unleash the sheep and **** the fox
Foxtrot to the endless seams
Of choicest words and inner hymns
Writing is a hundred twice as fun
And safer than a loaded gun
Guns may pierce the human flesh
But words hit straight a person’s chest
For what it’s worth, a mighty mortal
Can fall to such a force as equal
Equal to a slash of sword
Is an ample dash of pointy words
A blood spill sure can end a war
Don’t you think a pen can get that far?
Far and near are distant words
That pens can glue but not the swords
For I can rule the world and sprout a seed
A jot, a blot, is all I need.
May 10, 2013
May 10, 2013 at 1:19 AM UTC
At the center
of everything
there is a beat-
of a heart
of a drum
that carries all life.
It all moves,
fluxes, and flows.
a waltz, then a foxtrot.
It doesn't matter,
it's all the same-
same life force, same song.
I, too, hear that music,
and so I dance.
Dec 12, 2014
Dec 12, 2014 at 1:50 AM UTC
And for your love
and the romance
of our lives
I've decided to
attempt dancing
and all the glories
that come along.
For, this romance isn't
the aroma of accordion music
filling the Paris streets at nighttime,
while a couple dances
under the streetlights,
as rain begins to fall.
It's a romance about humanity
and desire and its heartache
that tries to tango in the suburbs
and tap in the slums,
whose clumsy movements cause
embarrassment for any party involved.
This love has a rhythm unlike
a big band hit or a bluegrass hand-clapper.
It has a rhythm all of its own.
Closest to, maybe, jazz.
The real jazz. The Harlem jazz.
Sparatic and unpredictable.
Upbeat, swinging cymbals and trumpets.
Then a slow sax,
with bluesy vocals crying out in pain.
Because you can't two step
or foxtrot
or tango
to that.
You must step carefully.
For this romance is fragile.
You cannot choreograph in advance
or synchronize moves
with your lovers'.
You simply must listen, feel, and move.
This dance of love
must cause you to cry
and smile
and melt
and ache
and desire to make love
all in the same motion.
Or it's not love.
It's an imitation
aimed at the beautiful and elegant.
And we aren't that.
We're humans with souls and flaws
who desire these false
motions and harmonies
of love,
but who need to still understand
love's true tender
and heartbreaking steps
that have no
recognizable rhythm,
but that promise
a lifetime of love.
So, I will not learn
love's romantic moves
for they are unteachable,
but I will attempt,
for your love
and romance,
my dear,
to sway to the music
and stay beside you
and follow your lead
as we wait for the
drums and the horns-
and the music to begin.
Nov 19, 2013
Nov 19, 2013 at 6:27 PM UTC
My breath dances a foxtrot
across her island flavored skin--
coconut and passionfruit
scents grapevine together, as our
joyful heartbeats intertwine
like a hummingbird's wings in air.
Her peppermint lips embrace
my nordic, hipster bear fuzz skin--
her feline eyes sing into
my soul, our flesh folds together
like a hungry flame devours
wood, we burn into crystal ash.
Feb 9, 2015
Feb 9, 2015 at 7:43 PM UTC
You've got to have some rhythm if you're going to boogie down.
At the latest tango hotspot at the Roxy in the town.
The principles of foxtrot and the sways of swing will show.
That dancing with your heart will always make your passion flow.
When the bossa nova starts and the lady sings the blues.
The time is now to shake your hips and don your dancing shoes.
You trip the light fantastic, your shoulders shake in time.
Your fingers snap and feet will tap along to mambo rhyme.
The rumba stirs the frenzy of your heart in Latin beats.
You feel the crazy samba in the footsteps on the streets.
Your ready for your spotlight doing cha cha cha and jive.
You can never stop the lindy hop to keep your soul alive.
Apr 17, 2018
Apr 17, 2018 at 5:27 AM UTC