A Night at the Three of Cups Coffee Shop, 1976

"We are not worse revolutionaries if we remember
that the universe itself pulses like a heart.
....if we remember that a ritual of unity makes some
of what it pretends,
that everything is a part of something else."

-marge piercy, "The Three of Cups"


more than I
sung alone
is a shaking unto breaking

sung embracing
river flows
river, sun
making

the night of such a time
I was taking dollar bills
at the Three of Cups Coffee Shop
smoking Gauloise
reading Kierkegaard
checking membership cards
and stamping the backs of hands

there, far back of The Shop
three women huddling-
two guitars
one harmonica
music sung in the key of timid

a woman three stories tall
reached down
her gesture large in sharing
pulled the key of timid to its feet
and waved it into the heart of the evening

when the Artemidian arrow
landed at my side
urgent
I joined them

there was the timid first lick
of fire
the 3 story woman
(torch bearer)
the huntress
searching for fuel

the beginnings

there were spoons and thighs
and hand-slapped hands
embers for eyes
and cheeks on fire
dipping, rolling shoulders
and dancing feet
and, o

that thunderous, unfolding beat

let me tell you where it took me in its heat:

to a mountain top,
above the jungle steam
a proud and high cry thrown through the air
like a javelin
caught
and returned

and all through
the hub-bub of cultures
voices heard and unheard
a rhythm more than drums
a collected sound no less than thunder

a river turbulent and thick
a woman
black
and sun
and dust
her shoulders gleaming and muscular
the smell of sweat
terrible and lovely
tree limbs fingering the sky
her fingers
her feet
at each step, clouds
shadows, feet, shadows


one beat
many bodies


let us not stop

there were the women of first flame
and their carrier
the huntress
and fingers on strings

we congratualte one another independently
our observable parts

and more

let us not stop at giving away praise

take it back
being yours
take it, it is ours

give it away, it is Life's.

and don't cry
thinking
this will never happen again

a fire burns
when given flame
and fuel

here
now

where there is no shortage of either.

-lora bennett, who was there-