History is Very Hard to Dance to

History is very hard to dance to
One cannot rely upon rhythmic feel
One must count
One must find patterns, constellations by which to guide
when the beat falls
below a threshold of about thirty-three beats per minute,
the beat becomes
intermittent, separate events,
becomes history–
a string of memories of the firsthand past
rather than a beat one can dance to,
rather than verses to float within
Is history a parade?
As history grows, one knows the beat comes and goes
One watches and one blinks and one shifts in their seat
subdividing history into opportunities to eat
and while the occasion might not groove,
the beat, the slow beat,
the low frequency under your feet,
tension and release,
attack and fall like stepping like walking like sympathetic swings
The rhyme in time as you see the same resistance to the same complaints
And moving that ass
And moving those feet
What is it that brings dancing out onto the street?
Because history is very hard to dance to
when the beat falls
below a threshold of about thirty-three beats per minute