{"id":628,"date":"2010-04-25T15:54:32","date_gmt":"2010-04-25T20:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davious.org\/now\/?p=628"},"modified":"2024-12-18T17:51:54","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T22:51:54","slug":"hookah-saturnali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davious.org\/now\/2010\/04\/hookah-saturnali\/","title":{"rendered":"Hookah Saturnalia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><em>Belly\u2013dancing Friday &amp; Saturday nights\n Ask about our cakes and pastries<\/em>\n together on the hookah menu\nIt feels illegal\n this fantastic peace\u2013pipe\n imported from a distant land\n where \u2014 I imagine \u2014 it is the usual\n mouthpiece playing the timeless tune of friendship\n in some tent with cushions and languishing heat\nWe talk of brownies\n as we inhale deeply\n blowing dragon\u2019s breath from our nostrils\n attempting Gandalf rings\nWe talk of communism and kibbutz\n as the silent flat\u2013screen\n entrapped in its frame\n trails on pitching capitalism\nAbruptly comes the belly dancer\n sword balanced on head\n smirk balanced on lips\n a knowing corniness goes unheeded\n tables laugh giddy with defense\nIt feels illegal\n this brazen display\n with its own language it speaks fluently\nThat middle\u2013aged Persian\n to whom I earlier beamed\n glares at her \u2014 all the women do \u2014\n not enviously\n at beauty speaking its truth\n which all possess and most mostly murmur\nAll part of the act\n dancer coaxes handsome man\n to mimic her poorly in happy embarrassment\n revealing the difference between babble and eloquence\nThen the young, curly-haired maiden stands\n and with so natural an expression on her face\n silently undulates a state of grace\n echoing phrases of child\u2019s play\n the staff see her and she is suddenly attired in native spangles\nEveryone understands the dance now\n the entire table of Persians join them\n the Africans on the other side of us, too\nAnd me, I wax on\n about the bump and grind\n with a generous tutor\nA beautiful woman entreats\n to dance with the dancer\n and share in the speech\nO happy buzz, good\u2013natured delirium\n The things we are saying this Saturnalia\n I am always hearing them\nThank you, hookah, magic lamp,\n who cleans the substance\u2019s impurities\n and turns smoke white\nfor the young maiden\u2019s sweet grace\n and a pleasant night<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Belly\u2013dancing Friday &amp; Saturday nights Ask about our cakes and pastries together on the hookah menu It feels illegal this fantastic peace\u2013pipe imported from a distant land where \u2014 I imagine \u2014 it is the usual mouthpiece playing the timeless tune of friendship in some tent with cushions and languishing heat We talk of brownies [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","tag-red-with-flowers-book"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davious.org\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davious.org\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davious.org\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davious.org\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davious.org\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/davious.org\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3626,"href":"https:\/\/davious.org\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions\/3626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davious.org\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davious.org\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davious.org\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}