| dancer
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Ananke
| the heel throbs against the stone | 1 |
each time she lifts and falls- | 2 |
ball, change, ball, change, | 3 |
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she can feel the blood congealing | 4 |
inside her white ballet shoes- a drying itch | 5 |
between her toes like leftover grass and mud. | 6 |
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she is afraid the blood will run through | 7 |
but her feet tell different tales, | 8 |
calloused and thick, sculptors of a moveable clay. | 9 |
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her womb has tightened year after year, | 10 |
a childless sacrifice to the fairy lights. | 11 |
under which she imagines she feels extra half-seconds | 12 |
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in a spotlight lift or caress | 13 |
of her dancing partner whose wife | 14 |
has middle aged pudge and two red-faced boys. | 15 |
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pas de bourrée, pique tombé, pique tombé, | 16 |
fall into the roaring applause, | 17 |
silenced in the nightly tub of epsom salts. | 18 |
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she is a twenty-seven year old menopausal | 19 |
divorcee who only dances to tell stories | 20 |
for the wide-eyed children. | 21 |
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12 Jun 03 |
Rated 8 (8) by 1 users.
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Comments:
When i started, i honestly thought i wasn't going to like it(I'm tired) but you absolutely swayed me. Just became more revealing as it went on and ended beautifully.
— badger
I thank you. I thought this one had been lost to the sea of uncommented poems, and was rather sad for it too.
— Ananke
Glad to see it saved in the nick of time then! Again, great work.
— badger
can you get menopause at the age of 27? I thought that normally that didn't occur till later on in life..like when your 50. It's good, I know all the dance steps, pas de bouree, so I was sitting there like, 'hey i know that step!' great imagery, made me feel like i was there.
— SeraphSoul
yeah, that was sort of the point. lots of times dancers will get menopause early and lose the ability to have children.
— Ananke
Excellent work, very graphic, hovers on the edge of melodrama but never topples in.
— susanna15
ball/change i.e. ball and chains?
A very real person. Good homage.
Menopausal? High intensity women athletes lose their ability to menstruate, but time off usually restores this.
— RSpiers1
That was a wonderful Poem. I am a Principal Dancer for The American Ballet Theatre. All of that was so true young lady! It is nice that someone can express the pain a dancer goes through, but only on the outiside, its smiling, on the inside, your screaming. Wonderful poem.
Paloma Herrera
— unknown
Wow, I'm so sad I didn't see that comment until now. Thank you :)
— Ananke
excellent, telling a story of sacrifice for ones art,unfortunately the art has taken over the life
— coodaygraw
very nice
— stout
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