cello waltz: stage dancing

The bass is inside my head,
This flirtation
Let darkness shroud this bronze beam
Ensnared about my dexterous (anonymity)
Along open thighs
Clenching, grasping for Constance in the
Black, purest desire:
I make no promises.

Approaching refrain
Coy smile imitations
Here, I submit
Myself to the deluge of a power
Greater than rhythm,
Defined by the unspoken, unheard
In the blasting beat in my brain
In the flashing spots on page—
Less direction, restless

Removed and engaged
Undulating want, three, four times
Phrasing this flirtation (impersonal)
I make no promises.


Candice Nguyen votes in Pennsylvania, lives in California. She has written several collections of poetry and short stories and is currently working on a piece entitled "Asianing: the (conscious) act of Being Asian American."