National Poetry Month: Ralph La Charity

"Dancin' in the Wake"
(Ralph La Charity)


yea, sun’s
goin’ down, Aralee

let’s go swimmin’

light as ash you are
girlfriend, let’s go
dancin’ in yonder spring

nay, girl, lemme
dance your ash in
that River, you do
know the One...

bitter clear River
River Rive & begone
River Dove & begot
River of Many Returns

of Birmingham
& Manhattan, too

River o’ Grief & no relief
River Flow & River Swing

floodtide weep Rejoice !
floodtide woe Bedamned !

you know the One
we’ll be back in twenty
maybe half again
we’ll be back, girlfriend

dancers swim
the floodtide vale
Dancers !

swim the blooded veil
see thru every wave
sing & sear, my love
sing & seer, o Poet

those wavelets
o how they suck & lap
ankle drag slap & chill

bullfrog burp
to beat the band
Benny the Hat bird-rapt
down beneath those
weep-dript boughs
sax tones bend
& laughter, too
toothsome you
skip to m’lou
toot sweet, too

o we’re dancin’
White Girl
dancin’
             down the Flow


"Dancin' in the Wake" by Ralph La Charity originally appeared online at Word of Mouth. La Charity is the author of several poetry collections, the most recent of which is Farewellia a la Aralee (Dos Madres Press), a 2014 poem cycle which includes an audio CD of La Charity in performance delivering his nine-poem tribute suite to the memory of Cincinnati / Athens GA author and filmmaker Aralee Strange (1943-2013). The book also features CINEMANUENSING, La Charity's extra-visionary tracking of Strange's uncompleted full-length feature film This Train. [Photo of Ralph La Charity by David Noah.]