Poetry by Joseph Mills

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Reception

We sip drinks at the table and watch those on the floor,
our silence typical of strangers brought together
by mutual acquaintances, and then she observes,
as if remarking on the weather, “all my suicidal friends
are very good dancers,” and I consider this and why 
it might be. Perhaps because they’re not worried
about getting hurt or what they look like. They’re not 
saving anything for anything. Or maybe they enjoy
the irony of trying to use a body to transcend a body.
Or perhaps she’s wrong. I begin to make Venn diagrams
in my head, circles of friends, of good dancers,
of those who are suicidal, of those who are out there,
and then I realize she’s left the table. She’s dancing. 
She’s very good, and I wonder what that might mean.

​



Celluloid

After seeing Top Hat at the revival house
we twirled along Michigan Avenue
in the skittering snow. We were young 
and in love with how wonderful it felt 

to experience art, old movies on a big screen, 
the motion of our bodies. It didn’t matter 
that we didn’t know what we were doing,
what mattered was the willingness to do it.

I have seen that film many times since;
perhaps they have too. I don’t know.
They stopped writing long ago. For years
I sent cards, but eventually grew afraid

these were annoying. How timid we become. 
Now I wouldn’t dare spin along the street. 
I’d be too aware of the ice, of the city, of people
watching, of my body’s frailty and stiffness.

Perhaps that’s one reason I return to movies.
That other couple remains young and brave,
unencumbered from one step to the next,
the world to them one of flickering wonders.

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A faculty member at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Joseph Mills has published six collections of poetry, including “Exit, pursued by a bear” which consists of poems triggered by stage directions in Shakespeare. His book “This Miraculous Turning” was awarded the North Carolina Roanoke-Chowan Award for Poetry for its exploration of race and family.  

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