Let Us Dance To It (David Bowie)

Language: French

On Saturday, I went to a Halloween party being thrown by my boss and his wife. This is the good, immediate boss, not the evil¹ ultimate boss. Just so we're clear. I was, alas, the only person from the store to show up, which made me a little sad. But perhaps I get points for attending.

I went with a costume idea I've threatened for a long time but never actually had occasion to pull off, stolen from Lorrie Moore, in her book Anagrams². In the book, Gerard suggests that Benna, for her Halloween costume, should "make a belt out of old spice tins and go as a waist of thyme."

Which was more or less what I did, though the thyme was in two plastic containers, tied together and looped over my shoulders. It wasn't enormously practical, but at least I never lost track of thyme. And I could take a thyme out whenever I wanted. (There were a million thyme puns, each worse than the last.)

No real dancing to speak of: it wasn't that kind of group so much. (The choice of song here is just 'cause I didn't have anything else ready that's party-ish. Though I did hear Talking Heads at one point, which is very danceable.) The husband and I wound up, somewhere around midnight, in the apartment of someone named Courtney, whom we didn't know, drunk enough to not be all that clear on how we got there, in the company of another former cashier who I'd never met before, who was dressed as a Republican and who had been handing out Jim Nussle³ and Jim Leach⁴ stickers all night.

So, so, so very hung over the next day, though. I haven't been that drunk, or that hung over, in years. Which is why there was no post yesterday morning: typing was too loud.

But it was worth it. I'd do it again. I had a good thyme and all.

-Jessi

¹Really not so much evil as just really type-A and at least moderately narcissistic.

²Anagrams was a huge influence on me, and remains one of my all-time favorite novels. I've probably read it a good twenty or thirty times. I'm thinking of getting some t-shirts made up that say "Lorrie Moore is my homegirl."

³Who is presently running for Governor of Iowa, and who bears a striking (to my mind) physical and political resemblance to the Democratic candidate, Chet Culver. I'm having a difficult time justifying to myself voting for either of them.

⁴Who is, for a Republican, not especially evil, and who did something, some time ago, relating to the Iraq War that I found principled enough to be noteworthy even if I can't recall specifically what it was. Still voting for the other guy, though.

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Dance: put your red shoes above
the blue dance, and

dance with the song
which they play on the radio.

Balance
while the color lights the top of your face.
Let us balance,
swinging with empty space by the crowd.

You said to race: I ran with you.
If you said the skin will hide us,
my love for you
would break my heart in two.
You fall into my arms as if
a flower, and tremble.

Dance for the fear
that your grace should fall;
let us dance, for this fear is all of the evening.

Balance: you could look in my eyes.
Balance under the moonlight.
(Serious moonlight!)

You said to race: I ran with you.
If you said the skin will hide us,
my love for you
would break my heart in two.
You fall into my arms as if
a flower, and tremble.

Dance: put your red shoes above
the blue dance, and

Dance with the song
which they play on the radio.

Balance: you could look in my eyes.
Balance under the moonlight.
(Serious moonlight!)