Danse Russe (1916) - William Carlos Williams

One poem a day #21

Things are pretty scary in Brazil right now — you might have seen the news about wildfires. I have been spending my days indoors, all windows shut to keep the ash and fog away.

However, I had a surprisingly chill day. It was lazy and slow, barely any work and I even dodged not urgent commitments to take a nap and spend some time with family.

When things are hard I often feel the need to shut the world out and take refuge in a quiet comfortable place, like poetry.

The poem I want to share today is great for that.

Written by American poet and physician (I wish my doctors were this cool) William Carlos Williams (1883 - 1963), Danse Russe is about one of those moments in which you can just be your weird self and relax — and man, do we need to.

I really admire how down to earth his style can be without sacrificying expression and deeply moving themes. It’s easy to relate to his writing, so easy that many critics scoffed at him, but it might be the exact reason his readers are captivated by his work.

So let’s dance like no one is watching.

Inga Gezalian - Unsplash

Danse Russe

If I 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?