They do the swing and sling dance someone said
About my friend Charlotte and her buddy Ted
It is the Lindy Hop, and it is looks rather wild
They asked me to try it, but I am a non-dancing child
I used to love to dance and kick and twist and shout
But a torn ACL and injured leg bone had struck me out
Now I barely skip, never hop, and sometimes limp along
After becoming my age, my body has yelled “this is wrong!”
I have arthritis in my ankles, so how could I swirl?
A bunion on my foot would not help me in a whirl.
Here is my advice, young woman, and young man too.
Do all the living you can while your body keeps up with you.
Categories:
lindy, age,
Form: Rhyme
I’m upset with smug Peter Pig
Who’d promised we could dance a jig
But spies my bent trotter
Gets nasty - the rotter
I call him an ignorant prig!
I’ve got a disability
But nothing will ever stop me
I’m a feisty young sow
So I'll never kowtow
Swing dancing makes me so happy
How quickly I'd learned how to dance -
Six lessons from my cousin Lance
When I dance Lindy Hop
I just don’t want to stop
My dancing may lead to romance
Young Percy took me by the hand
Well trotter; but you’ll understand
When we danced the pig jive
He made me feel alive
We’re dating now, life is just grand!
8,8,6,6,8 checked with how any syllables
Tall Tales 1 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Jeff Kyser
03/13/22
Categories:
lindy, animal, dance, fun, romance,
Form: Limerick
I belly danced my heart out
Until someone yelled STOP!
But wait, I lie. I kept dancing.
Now doing the quick Lindy Hop.
I twisted and twirled and stomped and stamped.
Someone yelled out “Stop! You little Tramp!”
This did not make me mad, for I was in the zone.
I shuffled right by them, my craft duly honed.
She is so silly! Someone said in a mean kind of way.
I did not care at all. I was here to play.
She’s belly dancing again! Someone yelled. Let’s make her stop!”
I would not stop now until my body needed to drop.
Dancing makes me happy; it keeps my blood clean.
To make me stop would be incredibly mean.
I guess they do not understand, jealousy is in their way.
But I danced on happily, throughout the next day.
Categories:
lindy, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form: Narrative
Little Lindy always wanted to touch a star,
But they were all too high and much too far.
She knew her magic unicorn had wings to fly
so on her friend she soared up into the sky.
Lindy decided she should walk on the moon
and floated past clouds in a big red balloon.
When she got there, she saw animals in a zoo,
and a talking parrot said, "How do you do?"
In the morning, Lindy saw a beautiful rainbow
with seven very pretty colors, row after row.
They sparkled in the early morning sunlight.
She would look for rainbow in a dream tonight.
April 12, 2021
Nursery Rhyme 4 Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Eve Roper
Categories:
lindy, childhood, nursery rhyme,
Form: Rhyme
Flirting flappers
Whipper snappers
Prohibitions
Big restrictions
Legs are showing
pearls are Swirling
Charleston’s harking
Lovers sparking
Dancing Lindy
With Miss Mindy
Jitterbugging
Afterwards hugging
Raccoon coats
Rowing boats
Bathtub gin
Fun never ends.
Categories:
lindy, dance, fashion, fun, imagery,
Form: Free verse
My Old Lady Rocks
Shes sure to knock off your socks
Her name is Sadie
and she's no Lady
She's 92 and can do the Wazoo
Yea, my old Lady Rocks
Old tunes she hums, She plays the drums
Today Sadie chews with her gums
Yet her beauty still Hauntingly numbs
Cause this old Lady rocks
In the haunted house of Botox
If Sadie smiles sweetly at you
You'll know her intention is true
She wants a dance, a brief romance
In a vortex hole of Charleston, Lindy and Tango
In a place that roared, you'll know you scored
If Sadie chooses you to rock in an era she adored
So put on your dancing shoes
To the music.. allow yourself to fuse
Sadie has no time to snooze
She chooses to rock around the clock
With no time to loose, shes on auto cruise
Yea my old Lady rocks
Categories:
lindy, dance, mom,
Form: Lyric
Kevin Solomon 9/9/2015
The Lion and the Crown
Cobalt blue goblet and the spangled gown
Black tie and high browns
Puttin on the Ritz
Flappers dancing the Charleston
Jazz by Count Basie and Duke Ellington
Crazy dance moves like the Black Bottom, the Shimmy and the Turkey Trot
And the Cake Walk
The Tango and the Bunny Hop
The Fox Trot and the Lindy Hop
Roaring cars filling the crowded streets
Zoot suits and reap pleats
Wide leg Oxford Bags and cuffed trousers
Waistcoats, suspenders, bow-ties and knickerbockers
Ladies wearing make-up, bobbed hair, short fringed skirts and drinking
Bright colored sweaters, patent-leather hair, feather head bands and smoking
The glitz of New York
Not the grime of Detroit
Superstars
Forgetting who their real friends are
Blinded by the glitter and gleam
Forgetting you are only a human being
Going where Harlem flits
No guts no grits
The fancy rich and famous showing their glitz
Forget about the misfits
And come on down to the Ritz
Categories:
lindy, clothes, crazy, culture, dance,
Form: Couplet
Scarce a year it was before my birth,
that Lindy set The Spirit down
at Le Bourget one night
and all the old voitures
as suddenly lit up the runway
with their headlights.
as he taxied to a stop.
Thirty years beyond, I landed there
from fair Bruxcelles and it was day;
the city of the light took rest
avant le gaiete of night—
there was no welcoming:
"Attencion Monsieur,
you are in zee way,"
and my attempt at French
brought only curious stare.
"Et je n'ai pas de plus argent
and little more to bear me home
to Orleans. Je suis un etranger
dans ma cite des grandes lumieres, "
I thought, and sent my fond farewell
to Brussels and its wondrous minature
Etats Unis and Circarama
still unknown in fifty years back here.
Sacre Bleu! C'est incroyable
that naked little boy in Belgium,
and the Champs above the catacombs
in Paris, now still flaunt their youth,
their vibrancy, as I advance
to that dim room somewhere
when irony prevails—where Lindy,
luckier than I, will share with me
the just equality of death.
~
Categories:
lindy, travel,
Form: Free verse
What is it that I see?
Out of the corner of my eye
A fleeting shadow
Is it real?
A glimpse into another universe?
Imagination?
I think I saw my cat
She died some years ago.
Can I reach across?
Could I, can I stay?
How wonderful if so
No need to grieve
Our lost ones are still there,
In the multiverse.
Some other parallel scheme.
Can I reach my long lost baby sister?
I never knew her
She died before her birth
So sad.
I didn’t even know that she was there
On my Mother’s death I found her
In her papers.
Her name was Lindy
And I’ve always wanted a sister
What is it that I see?
Out of the corner of my eye
A fleeting shadow
If only this was real
I could reach my long lost baby sister
Categories:
lindy, philosophy, baby, lost, baby,
Form: Free verse
Sometimes life is such a bore we run on automatic;
Then it’s time to tango for a dash of the dramatic.
Or when things are dull and only gusto will suffice,
We cha-cha or calypso to inject a dose of spice.
We hustle off to work each morning, foxtrot through the day
And hope that time’s electric slide just melts the hours away.
At clock-out time we say goodbye and jitterbug on out;
We hokey-pokey home because that’s what it’s all about.
Some easy days we waltz on by; we’re caught up in the swing
And lindy-hop or tap our way through all that life can bring.
We may go round in circles or, to deal with our despair,
Find someone we can partner with and do-so-do with flair.
For life is like a dance and we are held within its sway;
We dip and twirl and fake the steps, from polka to ballet.
The music of the atmosphere imbues us with its beat
And if we choose to hear it, we just follow with our feet.
Categories:
lindy, life, life, life, time,
Form: Couplet
I don’t have a favourite,
I love each and every one
Whether happy or sad
Cheerful or glum
I love Grim Kim
And Moanie Toni
Henpecky Becky
And Naggy Maggie
I love Bella Stella
And Indie Lindy
Funny Honey
And Windy Cindy
I love Tarty Marti
And Burley Shirley
The Felon Helen
And that twirly girlie
I love Flabby Gabby
And Escapee Lee
Chardonnay Kay
And Meat free Fi
I love Prudy Judy
And Racy Macy
Pristine Christine
And Straight Lacy Tracy
Categories:
lindy, funny, girlfriend-boyfriendlove,
Form: I do not know?
Baila, Lilah; move your thing.
Ragtime; Turkey Trot!
Magic step into the Swing.
Show us ALL you’ve got.
Boogie Woogie; Lindy Hop;
Shim Sham Shimmy it.
Snazzy-jazzy, quick-quick, stop?
Jitterbugs don’t quit!!
Hanky Panky; do the Stroll;
Hand Jive; Twist and Shout.
Mash Potato; Rock and Roll.
Shake it all about!
Go ahead and be a nerd.
Hustle like you do!
Do the Jerk and do the Bird.
And the Hitchhike too.
70’s were kind of fun.
Lift those Disco feet.
You are a phenomenon
Keeping to that beat.
Walk like an Egyptian now.
Macarena’s cool;
Moon Walk too if you know how.
You’re a dancing fool!
Now add Salsa, and Cha Cha;
Mambo in that way
Like you do for Mardi Gras.
Shimmy as you sway.
You’re a Caribbean queen.
Do Calypso, Girl!
Pretty little dance machine,
Whirl and whirl and whirl.
Make the ending really big.
Time to AMPLIFY.
This is not the Irish Jig.
Break it down; be fly.
Power move; do things untried.
Pop it, Fancy Pants,
Krump it; Lock it; Suicide!
Baila, Lilah. Dance!
Categories:
lindy, art
Form: Rhyme
You wouldn't like it here, Jeanie,
just look around;
funeral parlor--what a strange expression,
not at all like Mama's sitting room.
I've never seen most of these women,
must be professional mourners.
There stands Grace, acting the role,
counting how many the altar society
will feed after your funeral mass.
Did you hear Lindy saying how natural
you look deposited there in your casket?
Hell, sweetie, I hate to say it,
but you do look quite dead.
Why don't we split and go get a brew?
I wish we could.
Can you smell the flowers? I'm getting a headache.
I guess you don't get them anymore.
Remember how we loved yellow roses
and always had them in our gardens?
I don't like that dress you're wearing.
Remember our shopping trips to New York
when we stretched the plastic to increase our wardrobes?
Remember when we were in grade school and
found those puppies by the side of the road who
became members of our families?
Remember how you said that at your funeral
you would wear a pink wig and a red dress
and sit up and talk to everyone?
Don't I wish, Jeanie, don't I wish.
Categories:
lindy, death, friendship, introspection, life,
Form: Free verse