Diana Rosen

 

Music from the bandoneon

paints the air

under this ebony sky
with the sadness of
love lost.

My partner steps back, pulls
me into a volcado:
I lean into him

my extended leg sweeps
the floor where once
he stood.

Heartbeat to heartbeat
we meld into the sound of
melancholy.

A slight nod
a whispered
gracias.

I linger
in the fragrance
of embrazza

the connection
of tango
where the soul

trembles.

Afterthought, Afterward, After All

He's always just about ready
to say something pithy, witty
wry, when the impulse subsides
re-emerging too late, an
Esprit d'escalier
"the wit of the staircase"
another frozen step through
a no-risk life stymied silent
with toes-in-the-water hesitancy;
no crashing, wave-splattering
belly flop, no elegant swan dive
into the deep waters of life,
no soaring up to face the sun.

CP

Diana Rosen's work has appeared in the anthologies Kiss Me Goodnight, Those Who Can...Teach, and Bold Ink plus the journals Lucidity, convolvulus, and RATTLE, among others.