Awesome Twitch

Back corner bar, lights down low, summer sun a filter of speckled dust through foggy windows; leaning back in my chair I tip my glass toward lips longing for the cool wet of summer, the way the first Popsicle of the season tasted in the backyard, wearing your new bathing suit that’d be covered in wet and sticky and muddy before long, when you were six.

Shuffling chairs kick up patchouli clouds, a scarf falls off the table onto the planked floor and we reach at the same time, laughing shyly as our hands touch too much. I nod, turning back to the music, tapping toes to the beat of long summer nights, experiencing that floating feeling you get when life comes together in a beautifully poignant moment, the fracture of the kaleidoscope reflecting the symmetry of how simple life can be, how perfect life can be.

Strummed chords and hummed tunes, the lady on the dance floor is awesome twitch – her head and hips moving in opposite directions, her hands clapping, waving, shaking to the same rhythm she’s danced a thousand times before. A spread smile, wide lips, shining teeth, her face turned to the rafters – a hallelujah of praise for this little piece of Dionysus.

Clap, clap, clap – it’s so easy getting lost in the tempo of this energy, it’s so easy getting lost in the sound.

Setting sun, the clouds a pretty pink dusting of the long goodbye – the light of summer sticking to the edges of night, off-kilter voices and jagged harmony floating out the door tickling the backs of my bare legs on the slow walk home. A perfect night for summer.

xoxo,

M.L. H’art