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# Grasping the Hand of Whatever Reminds Me I’m Alive, I Dance
- URL: https://www.andyposner.org/dancing/
- Published: 2022-06-20T18:51:47.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-15T05:02:59.000Z
- Author: Andy
- Tags: poetry, #Migrated-1784090317409, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-15 04:39

You needn't believe in ghosts to dance with  
them. Just ask the Robin napping in the  
quiet of a broken fountain, drunk on jasmine  
and sugar. Ask drowsy Orion, who was up all  
night, or the Taiga, bent on its knees, heaving  
snow and ice. Ask the businessman who got  
away with it, or the panhandler who did not,  
who admonishes you not to make promises  
you can’t keep. Ask the judge who says of  
your earnest complaint, *solvuntur risu tabulæ*—  
the case is dismissed amid laughter. Ask the flags  
that have lost faith in their stripes. Ask the  
gravedigger, the cobbler, the cabdriver,  
the violinist in the subway, the stagehand,  
the ballerina. Ask the patient counting backwards  
to oblivion. Ask the surgeon and the janitor,  
drenched in the blood of yet another soul they  
couldn’t save. Ask the dog, convulsing in his  
sleep the way dreaming dogs convulse. Ask god  
or the gods. Ask your priest / rabbi / imam /  
shaman / therapist. Or, better still, ask yourself  
why you are swaying, sweaty, to the sad music,  
a solitary shadow whose heart beats alliteratively—

*I’m still here. I’m still here. I’m still here.*