occasionally i will be tempted, in an effort at eloquence or strong feeling, to use the word “dance” to describe a particularly elegant movement or pose, whether made by a human or nonhuman. it’s a fairly common verbal shortcut that i have trained myself not to use anymore, because it happens to break one of my husband’s cardinal rules of language. he participated in too many failed writers groups and poetry workshops, and read too many of his fellow language students’ papers in college, ever to feel any emotion except exhaustion and distaste, when he reads the word “dance” used in this way. so i wasn’t surprised when i asked him for a little help with this caption, and the first thing he said was, “you can’t say ‘dance.'” of course, now i have.

unidentified winter stems

lake johanna, saint paul, minesota