buenos aires graffiti, digitally re-imagined
B-boys of Green Bay
by
Sylvia Cavanaugh
Asian
b-boys in Green Bay
breakdance
in Boys and Girls clubs
in
Madison
Menasha,
Minneapolis , and Milwaukee
story
re-writes itself in those who move
cultures
fuse to dream anew
right
foot lifts and steps aside
followed
by the left
yet
the center always holds
mid-western
cyphers ground this dance
gravity
partners with defiance
they
fly in the placid face of it
freeway
fuels spontaneous combustion
Kafka
jives to a Latin beat where
all
that fly are colors
two
turntables spin to just one song
layers
of loose linoleum whirl helicopter legs
dizzy
headspins on cardboard sheets
remnants
of desire
windmills
shrug off concrete floors
far
to the west a mountain people
also
lived on slash and burn ‘til opium
smoked
their crops to cash
alchemy
of imperialism bespoke a
golden
triangle secret
war
and hidden trail
hunger’s
flight through clicking steps
of
landmines and helicopters hurling souls
scattering
winds
extended
clans gone nuclear
b-boy
flies up off the floor
released
from footwork, spins, and one-armed stands
statues
himself to a landing freeze
integrity
gestures to the ground
because
all your pieces and all your steps
and
the way in which you rock the beat
dance
the very math of funk so that
~
first published in Verse Wisconsin
