Advice
by Bill Holm
Someone dancing inside us
has learned only a few steps:
the “Do-Your-Work” in 4/4 time,
the “What-Do-You-Expect” Waltz.
He hasn’t noticed yet the woman
standing away from the lamp.
the one with black eyes
who knows the rumba,
and strange steps in jumpy rhythms
from the mountains of Bulgaria.
If they dance together,
something unexpected will happen;
if they don’t, the next world
will be a lot like this one.
Bill Holm (1943-2009) was an acclaimed American poet,
essayist, memoirist, and musician.
He was a frequent guest on “A Prairie Home Companion”.
There are several poetry collections,
including Playing the Black Piano and
The Dead Get By with Everything
and essay collections
The Windows of Brimnes: An American in Iceland
“This is a short poem, Advice, by a Minnesotan poet, Bill Holm. I believe it tells me a lot about how to live.”
Martin Shaw, Ph.D.
is a British mythologist, storyteller, writer, and
wilderness rites-of-passage guide, widely regarded for his revival
of oral storytelling traditions and mythic imagination.
He is the founder and director of the
Westcountry School of Myth in England and
created influential oral tradition and
mythic life courses at Stanford University.
His books include Bardskull, Smoke Hole, Courting the Wild Twin,
Wolf Milk, A Branch from the Lightning Tree, and more.
