THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC: A POEM MADE OF 90 ABBA SONG TITLES

THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC

A POEM WITH 90 TITLES OF ABBA SONGS

It's because now my life's as good as an ABBA song.

--Muriel’s Wedding

Because Love is all there is in this SUMMER NIGHT CITY,

Because no one is CASSANDRA on THE DAY BEFORE YOU CAME,

Because If it wasn't for the nights, we think that we could take it,

Because we expect HAPPY HAWAII and get a MUSICIAN with FUNKY FEET, 

Because THAT’S ME, in the car where the ABBA CD blares strobe light satisfaction, rearview mirror turns mirror ball. 
Because I enter a WINNER-TAKES-IT-ALL as the low bass line of ABBA subverts my bottom line,
Because my history falls from the shelf because it's WATERLOO, I couldn't escape if I wanted to,
Because we DANCE WHILE THE MUSIC GOES ON in the heart's dopamine disco,

Because CHIQUITITA, I’ll tell you what’s wrong,

Because I turn that music on and I forget everything.
Because I am 8 again, arms out spinning Disco innocence in my best friend’s basement.

Because I think I’m GOOD AS NEW, that new is good,

Because I don’t consider the co-dependent implications when ABBA sings: All the love you gave me, Nothing else can save me, SOS,

Because I don't mind the ARRIVAL from FREE AS A BUMBLE BEE to LAY ALL YOUR LOVE ON ME,

Because even FANFARE OF THE 1981 ICE HOCKEY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP is too much for me,

Because I’ll follow the music from HEAD OVER HEELS to HOLE IN YOUR SOUL,

Because I WONDER if all life is  an INTERMEZZO between one world and the next, 
Because I am all DUM DUM DIDDLE wedding myself to the rhythmic mystery with

in the I DO I DO I DO of the soul, 
Because A MAN AFTER MIDNIGHT does not drive the darkness away but often only brings it closer,

Because they knew muffled voices make you feel you’re CRACKING UP, 

Because  JUST LIKE THAT the LOVELIGHT goes out,

Because there had to be HAMLET III PARTS 1 AND 2,

Because another HEJ GAMLE MAN SAW IT IN THE MIRROR,

Because I only think that I belong here,

Because he’s an ALLEY CAT, or just another VISITOR,

Because I look into his ANGEL EYES and I’m hypnotized in that sweet

thrill of DISILLUSION setting in from far out 
Because there is nothing in the air this night,

Because the stars aren’t bright, 

Because you're not FERNANDO,

Because It's just the universe calling me BABY,

Because Listening to its music, the lights appear across the Rio Grande,

Because none of us have time for the sequined submission of love’s illusion, 

Because “I've seen you twice, in a short time/ Only a week since we started

It seems to me, for every time/I'm getting more open-hearted”is not a valid argument,

Because we know they all got divorced and won’t perform together even for a Billion dollars,

Because HEY, HEY, HELEN and HONEY, HONEY go FROM TWINKLING STAR TO PASSING ANGEL,

Because it is all JUST A NOTION, 

Because I'm BURNING MY BRIDGES,
Because if I had to do the same again, I would,
Because nothing moves a world like folk songs,

Because the heart is always asking us to TAKE A CHANCE and like Napoleon surrender,

Because here in Studio CRV, with ABBA loud on my stereo, I’m a HOVA’s VITTNE to TROPICAL LOVELAND, 

Because windows down at a stoplight, everyone who hears is MARIONETTE to this music,

(Because They believe in angels, too.)

Because I know I’ll be STILL ALIVE on whatever MORNING WITHOUT YOU comes,

Because, yes, MY MOTHER KNOWS THAT I’M OUT THERE,

Because I LET THE MUSIC SPEAK, easing me gently, urging me like a lover,

Because I’m out there, spinning the color-glow of the floor tiles in rainbows under my macrame shoes, Because this is the holy nightclub of experience,
Because after it was done, Agnetha bought an island and lives there alone with her horses,

Because I AM THE CITY, A SEEKER. A SOLDIER,
Because THE CRAZY WORLD inside this one is calling,

Because It says, I am CRYING FOR YOU,

Because I HAVE A DREAM,

Because I believe in angels,

Because ABBA opens the world to all the KISSES OF FIRE,

Because the VOULEZ-VOUS calls from the center of the eternal stereo,

Because it says YOU’RE MY KIND OF GIRL, 

Because they make all the world dance wearing a WHITE SOMBRERO,

Because we're here to BANG-A-BOOMERANG, make all the bells RING-RING, the RUBBER BALL MAN bounce out of bounds, til it’s SO LONG, TIGER, 

Because the KING HAS LOST HIS CROWN,

Because KNOWING ME KNOWING YOU is the best break up speech ever written,

Because ANOTHER TRAIN ANOTHER TOWN also lead to home,

Because walking through an empty house with tears in our eyes is just the B-side of TAKE A CHANCE,

Because we find ourselves SITTIN‘ IN MY PALM TREE waving HASTA MANANA

to another RICKY ROCK N‘ ROLLER or SUZY HANG-AROUND who wanted 

TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE, 
Because MONSIEUR, MONSIEUR,  ANDANTE, ANDANTE! MOVE ON,

Because I shine once more like I did before,

Because WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE, we will again walk this TERRA DEL FUEGO,

Because we remember we are EAGLES and this, too, is how we soar, 

Because THE NAME OF THE GAME is always GIVE A LITTLE MORE,

Because we get on the CAROUSEL, ride the MERRY-GO-ROUND UNTIL THE WIND CRIES MARY,

Because it goes ON and ON and ON,

Because we’re still more SUPER TROUPER, than NINA, PRETTY BALLERINA, 

Because ONE OF US saw herself as concealed attraction, away from the heat and the action,

Because the DREAMWORLD and the real are in harmony here UNDER MY SUN,

Because see that girl, watch that scene?
Because the heart is the real DANCING QUEEN.