One Dance

And who were you, and who was I

but lights connecting,

pulling out the filament of hope,

on and on, a constant stream

even as the loops and partnerings

within the dance

wove and rewove,

some splendid knot forming

of which we were not aware

or hardly —

the streaming light remaining

the one strong constant

till the smile that dawned in you

lit up the circle,

and as we wove that, too,

it brought us all in.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 26, 2019

Dance, again

After long neglect

the music, when invited,

still fills my form,

the dance still transports me

I feel it like spring sap rising,

like sun on bark, on skin.

It reminds me what it’s like

to know I am alive,

to be something more

than a thing described, 

or a role, or one who waits —

It reminds me how life defines itself

fresh in each moment,

new in each breath.

©Wendy Mulhern

April 7, 2018

Lines of Light

I start to define myself

by the lines of light streaming through,

I start to feel their lift, their strength,

and to be less impressed by clay

If Mind doesn’t hold me here,

what ever could? What, possibly,

except idea, could hold this form in place?

What but Mind could let me move

in grace, and with intention?

Look at me dancing —

look how the music lifts and moves me.

Surely it is clear

that I am made of lines of light

for clay could never move me,

clay could never move like that.

©Wendy Mulhern

November 11, 2017

What I Needed

I let the music take me like a kite,

I spun and swooped, I dipped and soared –

twirled without dizziness and without getting tired

as if a power not my own had moved me

I came for this, and so I was rewarded,

so, for a brief time at least, I could fly,

yet, like a kite, I needed some connection,

something to hold me up against the wind

Without that, soon I wandered aimless —

my motivation faltered, I lay down —

without the invitation to dance with others

my movement faltered, started to go bland

And that’s why your appearance 

was such a welcome sight —

your eyes met mine

and launched me into flight.

©Wendy Mulhern

August 8, 2017

Class

In whose name

could I ask her

to sit still and listen

when the resplendence

of life, of joy, of music,

was dancing through her being?

Whose very presence

was effervescent Spirit, Soul,

whose love of life

was overflowing?

No, we would listen

together, with the inspiration

of that very bounce,

to show, not tell

what goodness is,

to live, not talk of, truth.

©Wendy Mulhern

June 18, 2017

Joy’s Return

My father-in-law says to the empty room

(his hand gesticulating)

"That’s the place where all the people

yesterday and before came,

they were dancing,

they started a dance there"

While the clear tones of Appalachian Spring

soar from the radio

and I did just dance

here in the next room

because I couldn’t help it

Outside, blossom petals

carpet the streets with grace,

not caring if it’s sun or rain

It feels like it’s been

a long and tenuous time

but here I am,

where I belong,

hoping to take with me

next time I go

something like the memory of birds wheeling

to help me find my way back.

©Wendy Mulhern

April 26, 2017

The Dance

Hand to hand

and gaze to gaze

we look to find our truest ways

We try on clothes,

we try on moves,

we try to find a self that grooves,

we want to lift and float and fly,

break through the stiff and staid and dry

We want the space to give consent,

we want to be uniquely met,

not image to image

but soul to soul —

so shall we see each other whole.

©Wendy Mulhern

February 21, 2017

Dancing Again

It can be any music.

It hums through me in currents,

exacts its rhythm in whatever wants to move,

asserts its melody, flowing up my arms

Reminding me

what I am made of,

how I am made to be the music,

be the music’s form,

thrummed into full aliveness

in the waves of its chords.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 14, 2016

Simple Science

Lack of a stream bed

will not stop water

from flowing down

Lack of a plan

will not stop love

from carving its way

through and around

every obstacle

Lack of lessons

will not stop dance

from cleaving to the music,

moving bodies in ways they hadn’t thought of,

hadn’t known they could

And no tale

of loss, of separation

can stop the full expression,

intricate and bold,

of everything you are

from shining forth.

©Wendy Mulhern

November 12, 2015

Song Waves

When I started to sing

(my voice pulled up by the enticing

echoes of the underpass)

I found the sound was bound

to the memory

of how last night 

it entwined with others,

rich tones rising from us,

curling around and drawing forth harmony,

long lush locks of song

like dark, smoky-incense scented hair,

like arms embracing, foreheads touching

and the primal coil

that rose up through our centers,

feeding us from the earth.

©Wendy Mulhern

August 4, 2015

photo by Edward Mulhern

Spring Comes

It may seem chaotic

but there is one force pulling us all

And the intelligence 

with which we’re all connected

can accommodate

every single need

This grand dance goes on

in every scale of size —

within the galaxies of molecules

and in the tensile tug of stars

And we can feel it

in the way we slide together

and the kinetic transfer

of exhilaration

We can feel it in the stillness

where the interlocking circles

find perfect balance

all along the endless chain of life.

©Wendy Mulhern

February 17, 2015

Body of Movement

Consider my body

and how it moves —

the reach and balance points,

the arcs extended

through my spine, my limbs —

consider how it spins

and how it leans and stretches

There is no moment

when it is not made of motion.

Even at its most still,

the counterpoints of rise and fall,

of soft and taut

are what define it

It’s not a mass of matter

waiting to be activated.

It’s not comprised of elements

that might move.

It is the actual movement

as clearly defined by my thought

as the vortex form

is governed by its rippling imperative —

cohesion of the liquid

and the gravity that draws it

and the honored channels

through which it flows

My body is like that —

transparent, wave formed,

kinetic,

whirling through the dance

of present tense.

©Wendy Mulhern

February 11, 2015

photo by Edward Mulhern

How to Fly

I hold the curiosity 

of what is —

what is you, in this moment,

what is me,

what is the vibrant space between us

with its tensile pull

we follow onward

through the dips and surges

of our eyes, our smiles, our dance

It’s not my thoughts so much

as my heart’s swift pulse

and the rush behind it

that my body cleaves to

as I hold the channel open

and go further in

where the whole counsel of myself

encounters you

It finds you on your land,

It finds your feet at home,

It finds you ranging

through the rhythm of your days,

your shadow easy in its arc

and in its evening slide

back into the velvet of the hills

I find you

to my surprise

beyond the stretch of my resistance

where I find I’ve settled in,

close and content,

to the comfort of your eyes.

©Wendy Mulhern

January 29, 2015

Sands of Change

I will flow into my sensing 

of what is true,

I will not wait for others to go first.

I will pour like sand,

no grain delaying,

with the full commitment

of all my weight,

aware that gravity is here

and my surrender

moves me with calmness

through the changes,

and the weight of others

will be eased

into the leaning

of my willingness

to go down,

to settle

all the way in.

©Wendy Mulhern

November 26, 2014

Lyric Body

My lyric body dances on sound,

Skips along the logs at Richmond Beach,

Leans into the lift of wind,

Sings the tunes that rise up in response

This is the flow 

of joy-impelled intent

which moves to celebrate the balances

of all that breathes in concert with the day

and all the ways it touches

and is touched

This is not the mechanism

I was taught was me,

nor yet a chassis I inhabit —

This is the one that flies in dreams

and also here, perhaps,

in the rich euphoria

spanning all my arcs,

connecting me.

©Wendy Mulhern

November 20, 2014

Lean

Give me the energy

of the steep lean,

enough of an angle

that we feel supported by each other,

held up, creating in our leaning

a deep rest

Give me the weight

of a strong spin —

enough of us committed

that our gravity

will grant acceleration

and the swift exhilaration

of the way it feels

to be pulled continually in

We might think it's enough

to walk through our days

shoulder to shoulder,

a light rub reassuring us

of each other’s presence,

But sometimes we also need

the nourishment of leaning

into the strength that rises on its own

from the bond between us.

©Wendy Mulhern

November 10, 2014

All is Well

In the dream

the dance was close to flying —

hand in hand catapulting each other up

all the way to the ceiling

In the night I was held

in the deep space of

All is Well

and nothing could impinge

upon my peace

And in the morning

it was still true:

No inky image wants

to remain at dawn —

No one wants to wake up

as the bad guy.

Even the big scary hulks

whose job it is to shout and shout

and make me feel beleaguered

Even they just want to curl up

and be cuddled. There’s no reason anyone

needs to accept a role that doesn’t suit them.

They will all, with great relief

take off their masks

and smile.

©Wendy Mulhern

October 28, 2014