Anna
JACK SPINS ME AROUND AND around. So fast that I feel the soul will be pulled up out of me.
A woman passes before me. Behind me. Before me.
Behind me. Betty, Lillian, Betty, Lillian.
Beautiful, shocking, these terrifying shapes.
Blonde to black to blonde. Beauty to beauty to beauty.
Passing and spinning away from me so fast that I don’t have the time to think of how alarmingly lovely and present they are.
I can manage them both for right now. I am a perfect evening sky, balancing both the sun and the moon. I can manage.
Just as I am settling in, the strong arms of Ger Doyle pull me off Jack and spin me away.
He calls over the music, smiling a huge smile. Tobacco stains on his big teeth. What a nice man.
Jack takes women in and out of his arms. So does Tom.
And for the length of this song, I move without thinking, fitting seamlessly in with everybody and everything.
Let’s all keep moving this quickly, and maybe everything will stay fine.
I like set dances. I feel they are one of the few times when I can be sure of myself and what we are all doing.
I am taken into the arms of Michael Fitzpatrick.
Before me, behind me, she comes back again, and I feel as high up as the music.