Una Noche Poem by Michael Palmer

Then El Presidente,
uncoiling his tongue,

"You cannot stop time
but you can smash all the clocks."

And so, seeking Paradise,
we have burnt the bright house

to the ground.
A necessary act.

We have invented glass
and ground a dark lens

and in the perilous night
we continue to dance.

The tarantella, the tango,
the passadoble and the jig,

the bunnyhop, the Cadillac,
the Madison and sarabande,

mazurka and the jerk,
the twist on tabletops.

Rolling our eyes,
flailing our limbs.

It's how we keep time,
our feet never stop.