One
Happy National Poetry Month from Stance on Dance!
BY DELPHINE HSINI MEI; ILLUSTRATION BY CAMILLE TAFT
One was first written during an artist residency in Singapore in the midst of creating a performance piece. One day when I was walking around the city, I saw this old house with a beautiful mosaic, and wooden windows opening to the top, while a beam of light shining down. I took a photo, then wrote a short poem. It was reworked and became longer in 2020. I think home is our body. And ultimately, we are all connected and one. Dance is a gateway for us to connect closely to this home where our hearts stay truly alive.
~~
open the door and it’s light
open the light and it’s right
never am i searching wondering wandering
endless nights on the streets
foreigner amongst people
making home in the body
wandering
carelessly aimlessly
like a bird without a tree to grow her nest
like his mother
blind
still struggles to find home
HOME
to bend the body
in pieces
peace of the body
owns nothing but the body
this body
your body
my body
our bodies
bodies trying to find home in the dance
DANCE
waltz cha cha salsa and chive
ballet modern break and tap
bollywood kabuki belly and tango
disco yeah disco
saturday night fever
and more
can it be more?
MORE
i want more
steps slow and festive
sometimes swift and sassy
sometimes sweet and airy
like summer’s fairies
hummingbirds and butterflies
those dancing ladies
who are queens princesses and more
dancing their own tunes on the way home
her body her home
kind of sexy
her home
H.O.M.E.
dancing their own tunes on the way home
making the one her one
making the one his one
making the ones their ones
dancing their way home
~~
Born in Taiwan, Delphine Hsini Mei has practiced dance in the US, Europe and Asia. She’s been a resident artist at Cite American-Foundation (Paris, France) and Dance Short (Amsterdam, NL). Picking up lost shoes and conversations in the world and making them into various art forms have been her interest, as well as writing poetry. Her poetic works can also be found in the poetry book, Names in A Jar: A Collection of Poetry, and Raintiger Berlin, an online poetry forum. Delphine is also a holistic teacher-counselor at ShivaniSpiritDance in Taiwan, working with body and energy exploration, balance and healing.
2 Responses to “One”
Thx Philip Foster
Lovely!!
Comments are closed.