Seeking Duende

by Richard Chase
Desert Moon Review
Honorable Mention, July 2017
Judged by Tim Mayo


El infinito tango me lleva hacia todo. Borges*

Inside as deep as spirit allows
is a horizon, the full report
of what we know about the other,
but their soul remains concealed.

Tango opens to another’s spirit,
to dance together, release joy,
confidence, into the world,
the unknown at the heart,
vaulting pain to an exact present.

Between possession and loss,
balance shifts from your grasp,
into an emptiness that makes
non-emptiness come back alive.

Foundations shift, center aches;
you realize you both exist for want
of the other; you accept loss,
duende becomes the beauty of all;

sitting to the side, white haired,
unable to make the moves
that stunned partner and audience
in his day, the viejo’s memory
glissades across the floor.

* “The infinite tango takes me toward everything.”