Christmas visits to the ballet
sitting too close to the stage,
thudding steps of second rate dancers
belying the illusion of grace
granted to those in the gods.
Ballet jigsaws, fuzzy felt ballet,
lying when asked what I wanted to be:
“I want to be a ballerina!”
Struggling through ballet class
with inflexible limbs
and no sense of grace
twisting myself into unnatural poses
forgetting to force a smile.
All those expensive books about ballet
when I wanted to learn about science.
(I love dancing, just ballet never suited me.)
4 comments:
This poem rings very true to those of us who were square pegs pushed into round wholes! Thank you for giving this truth a voice in such a lovely way.
How long did you keep at it? We have a friend who did it for her mom, and finally told them she did not like ballet when she graduated high school. Science suits me better, too.
Elizabeth - thanks!
Sandy - too long! I did though give up ballet for tap when i was a teenager, which suited me better, though still i wasn't a natural talent!
:)) just smiling here so many would have memories of similar things your poem so lovely brings back .. really lovely in style of writ giving a great sense of going back to these times of awkwardness ....Beez :))
Post a Comment