Small pieces of history, still moving through us.

Sometimes in the middle of a conversation,
I hear something come out of my mouth
and wonder where it came from.

Not the big ideas
just the small, familiar phrases
that seem to arrive already formed.

We pass them back and forth
without thinking much about them.

But they’ve been carried a long way
to get here.

Cut a Rug

They weren’t cutting anything.
Not really.

The phrase showed up in the 1920s,
back when dancing was fast, loud,
and sometimes a little destructive.

Feet moving so hard across the floor
it felt like you might tear it open.

By the 1950s, it softened.
Less rebellion. More rhythm.