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 hop, 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 hop, 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 hop, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form: Narrative
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 hop, clothes, crazy, culture, dance,
Form: Couplet
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 hop, life, life, life, time,
Form: Couplet
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 hop, art
Form: Rhyme