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No Contest
- Michigan State University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
34 No Contest On a dusty Sunday afternoon, from my chair behind the drum, I watch for a treasured smile among the grass dancers. Singers warm up a contest song, and as the push-up sounds, in a brilliant multicolored blaze, they dance across the sun. Swirling white and green and yellow, like wind through summer prairies, He dips and whirls along a path set down to old-time rhythms. Deliberate steps in measured time, he moves among the men, while judges watch with seasoned eyes and score them on their style. The last down beat will bring their movements to an end, stopping ribbons, roaches, beaded cuffs, while heartbeats race ahead. And on a dusty Sunday afternoon, the contest ends the same. Sweetheart, let me take you home in my one-eyed Ford, again. ...