William Carlos Williams did it. So can you.

For those of you who haven't seen, Richie is a great dancer. He puts the "brown stallion with skates on" metaphor to shame. He can look like he's gliding across the floor; he can make his whole body from his fingertips to his ankles look like a wave. He's a smooth, athletic dancer. You can probably tell that I especially like Richie's dancing. He came up to me a minute ago and said, "I know why I like to dance. It feels good."

Richie got me a William Carlos Williams poetry anthology for Mother's Day. He said WCW was one of his favorite poets because his work is so visual. He wants me to choose a poem for him to paint. I'm not sure if I want him to paint this one; I've provided my own visual. I remember reading this poem in the Marietta public library in 8th grade when I was supposed to be researching Vietnam. I knew then that WCW and I had a little something in common.

Danse Russe

IF when my wife is sleeping

and the baby and Kathleen

are sleeping

and the sun is a flame-white disc

in silken mists

above shining trees,--

if I in my north room

dance naked, grotesquely

before my mirror

waving my shirt round my head

and singing softly to myself:

"I am lonely, lonely.

I was born to be lonely,

I am best so!"

If I admire my arms, my face,

my shoulders, flanks, buttocks

against the yellow drawn shades,--

Who shall say I am not

the happy genius of my household?

WCW

Ah, poetry. Does this mean we are to imagine WCW, the man shown above in black and white, dancing naked, grotesquely, to Tchaikovsky? A little. It's possible to write a poem without actually having done the thing, but my money (in this case) is that he wrote the poem after dancing and defending his morning dance - to himself. An unscientific poll based only on the ranks of my loved ones, especially my children, suggests that all unimpeded people like to dance. The more unimpeded they are, the more naked they can be when they're dancing. Drunken people, as well as the very young, are excellent examples. Once the inhibitions are gone, so go the clothes.

Colleen Brown once said, "A sweet spirit starts at the top." I'm guessing (based on the tone of the poem, reference to the North room, the sleeping presences offset by this one vitally not-sleeping presence) that WCW means "Happy genius"as in "a [happy] attendant spirit of a place." And he's lonely, yet exuberantly so. I think WCW had to claim time and psychic space for himself to spaz out because he was an artist. He clung to the mundane - Patterson, N.J., practice as a physician, marriage. But here he dances naked first thing in the morning - something others do only when three years old or drunk.

I take comfort in this. It's possible to do exactly what you need to do, faithfully, especially if you choose some harmless way to claim your space. My friend, Cati, once suggested I choose a routine activity that was only mine and do that thing every day no matter what. She saw that I was all off-kilter at the time and needed to reclaim some scrap of myself. That's how I see WCW. I'd like to encourage everyone who reads this to choose something or things that sustain you and do them. Dance (naked?), read/write poetry, make (bad?) art. Get into your music, sing at church or in the shower. Ride your horse.

I know that reading just a little poetry can sustain me all day. Writing for a minute does, too. I love a great song and a good dance. Hey, ya.