TWIST AND SHOUT
Swing your velvet hoop
Round your beautiful waist.
Let the sweetness
Of your intoxicating hemp
Take the passionate overboard.
While the reggae plays
In convulsive grace
Show the world
The rhythm of the darkest rich night of colourless hue.
Move, move breathlessly.
So dynamically
East to West.
In an intoxicating dance
Of freedom.
All that is benign
In all moments
Encompassing all pains of all time
Now, Past, Future.
You dance them away.
With every hip movement.
They fly away at the speed
Of your grace.
Compliments to a nice and decent girl.
I want to take you around the world.
I want to hold your shoulders
At the edge of the most dangerous precipice.
There we will dance.
In such rhythm
That the earth itself will admire our phase.
We will twist and shout.
In such dynamic composure we will.
And moutains and rivers
Will peer over their edges to see us.
We represent nature.
We will show nature.
How to be nature.
You are the greatest hero since the foggy dawn of the species.
You have come along to serve the most beautiful
The most beautiful purpose.
Of loveless, truthful compassion.
You are the one. The chosen one.
Chosen by the mountains
Chosen by the sunny islands
Chosen by the kings of the jungle
And chosen for me.
Make time infinite.
Make it a time to remember.
We will do it together.
We will twist and shout.
And the world will twist and shout with us.
All through infinity.
Even when the stars burn away.
We shall burn together.
Even when the driving rain splatters us.
We shall shine the Sun itself.
To light our path.
Our path of warm water.
We will walk on water.
With an infinite compassion.
And define the path
Of all the greatest.
I shall be you.
I shall be your underwear.
I shall be your razor when you shave.
I shall be your earring.
In ad infinitum, whatever it be.
Let us go.
Merci beaucoup madame.
You are my one and only.
I know not now how to say what to say.
The language is leaving me in silence.
But you will show me.
A triple-trillion thank you messages.
About This Poem
Written in late September 1999, this passionate love poem takes its title from the famous song "Twist and Shout" and uses dance as its central metaphor for love's transformative power. The poem begins with the image of a woman dancing—"Swing your velvet hoop / Round your beautiful waist"—while reggae plays, but quickly elevates this dance to cosmic proportions. The speaker imagines dancing together "At the edge of the most dangerous precipice" in such rhythm that "the earth itself will admire our phase" and "mountains and rivers / Will peer over their edges to see us." What distinguishes this poem is its bold ambition: the lovers don't just participate in nature, they "represent nature" and will "show nature / How to be nature." The declarations of devotion intensify throughout—"I shall be your underwear," "I shall be your razor when you shave"—expressing a desire for complete unity and presence in the beloved's life. The poem concludes with language itself failing before the magnitude of feeling: "The language is leaving me in silence." It's an unabashed celebration of passionate love's power to transform both lovers and the world around them.