Dance Pacific, Dance Poem by Leonard Dabydeen

Deep in the bowels of the earth
and closer to the Pacific North
encrypted on the Crazy Horse
totem pole vaulted in the archives
of British Columbia
and ridging the shoreline
of Northern California

they tell me this is where
Mendocino Redwoods shake hands
with the resident sea
and here like a secret in a dream
the Pacific is brewing a turbulence
in volcanic form and shape
as Earth’s enigmatic plates
silently shift to cascade the fault line
with frightening quakes

they will come when your eyes
are closed as the blanket warms the skin
or the ears begin to fall in love
with the silence of the night
or even before the first draft of your dream
is saved and the next episode begins
on the 15th floor in a hotel room
or your prayer-book is planted
beside your octagon-shaped night table
for a night cap

the quakes will tip the Richter scale
then hammer the Earth with aftershock
like a wild animal regurgitating its victims
then licorice them again and again
and in continued intensity
an angry tsunami giant
will rise from the deep blue sea
like a gigantic sea-monster
snorting towering walls of water
as if it had a bad dream


then it will move uncannily
with unrelenting speed
as it lashes out towards the coastline
going after people and places and things
and in the echo of howling winds
a song will be heard
in the fright of fear
show time begins with an ominous tune
dance Pacific, dance.