Note:- The curiosity of getting together for social ceremonies comes from the ill-fittingness of cliques and circles, brought together around a person (or in this case persons). Fascinating is the way in which people weave toward a shared meaning and understanding, whilst rarely renouncing the old fallbacks of routine and ‘good form’. Mind your ‘p’s’ and ‘q’s’ and keep yourself well-watered at the bottomless Uisge Beatha well (isn’t it a wodka bath?). Mark out the points of ceremony and offer up your thanks and congratulations, when they are asked for, of course. How to navigate a collision of protocols though? Which way to dance when there are two physical interpretations of the music? One woman, in particular, becomes profitable currency in such a setting. That is the woman who speaks convincingly in tongues. She is sought everywhere. Sometimes it’s good to embrace chaos and conflict – and accept, if there is a God, then it’s name is most likely carnage. 

They seek her here,

They seek her there.

A slantwise approach in crackling tulle,

As someone in a Hobbs’s –

Invitation Maisy –

Forgets the incoherence of languages

And thus requires her linguistic Eucharist.

-

Speaking over one another:

“Proszę”,

“No,no, after you.”

“Nie rozumiem.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

Mother to mother,

Settling on the musclework of smiles.

-

Not knowing someone

Yet translating each word.

A benign Anglophone courtesy,

The politeness of listening, only,

Before thundering in, again.

To move toward a Slavic sentiment

Of saying what you mean –

-

An avoidance of tangents and subterfuge

And the pricking needle of innuendo.

“What is she saying?”, (a-swig of daiquiri),

“Miło cie poznać.”, (fluting pink champagne).

Those fields before the factories

Already arranged into greens and fairways,

A much easier transfiguration – of mind.

-

The Best Man is speechifying

At a speechless wedding.

An exchange of ceremonies

Lost before translation, “Gdzie?”.

Far better the cultural alchemy of dancing

and drunkenness. Has Samson had a haircut?

Are those not verbal walls being tongued down?