June 22, 2021

“Tatiana’s Tango,” The Poetry of J.P. Christiansen

“Tatiana’s Tango,” The Poetry of J.P. Christiansen

Tatiana’s Tango    Her sex is a tango, sung in any language, please,  in a black and white picture, mono chrome,   with shadows of that desire, please.    She stands under the lamp-post dividing day and lust,  the music of a moon having come out to guide you, Tatiana.  The small orchestra plays the seductive tones,  the singer caresses words and refrain,  here in the bar in Warsaw, 1938,  where two bodies meet in a dance to celebrate life.    A tango may last three minutes.  I listen to the scratched vinyl surface of the 78.  A memory arises with each turning of the needle in its grooves.  Haunting notes and voice of a song which used to be.    Now, 1939, and the gramophone is silent.  The vinyl is broken.    Did the walls fall on you, too, Tatiana…

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