Long Barre Poems

*** Sketching the Ballerina ***

It is well, quite well after midnight. 
My pup lies fagged on the blanket
    as close to me as possible.
The young ballerina sits slightly slumped
On a bench across...

Read More

Dance for me now ...

Eyes of polished onyx pierce me like the keen edge
          of a scalpel, deftly wielded ...

The blood of my black heart flowing...

Read More

How I took for granted, thee!
Now, reaching an age, I began to ponder.
Their truly outstanding history.
Hands that once with grand wonderment 
stared at crayon colors.

Tanned, dimpled hands of a girl
Who on beaches made sand castles!
Whilst...

Read More

life …

lived parenthetically -
impulses placed like black boots
in soft sand,
stumbling …
betting a fool’s hope that it leads  …
SOMEwhere …
or garners a courtly chuckle
(if perhaps by accident)
my pas de bourée
to your sublime elegance and
perfect line...

Read More

Once manifested on the 
heel of Adagio in G major,
balancés and assemblés from 
the back hand. Baryshnikov told
me to flatten my stomach, so I 
repressed the urge to
breathe; suffocation is
incandescence by the barre.

Then I looked...

Read More

The deep plot of their craft, 

the subtle tyranny in flowery cloak

Greek gift from white house “Doctor” 

hoped  to be a Hero,

and as the Parthian becomes a Nero by a mandate,

so soon t would...

Read More

now ...

dance for me …
eyes of polished onyx pierce
me like the keen edge of a scalpel,
deftly wielded ...
the blood of my black
heart flowing in and around you,
warm and welcomed to your
wings and wants ...
the aspiration...

Read More

now ...

dance for me …
eyes of polished onyx
pierce me like the keen edge of
a scalpel, deftly wielded ...
the blood of my black
heart flowing in and around you -
warm and welcomed to your
wings and wants -
the...

Read More

Bitter night
	seventeen degrees
all is covered
	in frozen white

comforters and blankets
	piled so high
tugged up high
	warmth to seek

Christmas time
	just days away
my night is filled
	with guitar dreams

there was a girl
	in earlier days
when I was young
	in velvet prime

I did sing
	in...

Read More

Ride the night with easy
watch the maker stand so pleased
Remember the final turn home in a faithful surprise
Yet in these in these places through this times u have climbed the crying sky
I have seen your...

Read More

             ~ PEEK INTO A POETESS’S SOUL ~

?
          It's her own delightful ballet studio!

...

Read More

One would not know, to look at me,
my years spent at the ballet barre -
tights sticking to me in summer,
cold fingers in winter.

And the aching to be better,
to be seen,
to be given a correction from...

Read More

         Dreaming she is a ballet star,
         Practicing delicate, ballet moves
        ...

Read More

Written: November 05, 2023

            ___________________________________________

Away from Earth, the sky is always hideous,
A whimsical sun made my dream obvious.
A deep redolent dream, moon, and scheme,
Ideal...

Read More

Like an old cat stretching her limbs in the sunlight
Warmth seeping through knots in her gnarled hands and sShe sits on a paisley chair in front of the East window
welling in her stiff knees

Pressed roses...

Read More

It's within her ballet studio!

Round and round the poetess goes.

Seeing herself in the sparkling, glass mirror.

And rainbow-tainted visions of her past.

Doing positions at the barre!

Yet a vision into her past, is truly a holy foray.

Times...

Read More

There's few things in this world
   that can bring me to the ground
But these two are different
   and I'll show you how
The first is innocent and crazier than you
  ...

Read More

You are not meditating
You’re not reading 
the classics. 
not practicing 
barre cords on the guitar,
not brushing up
on your French.

You’re just hanging on, 
for dear life
by your fingernails.
You’re trying.

Trying 
not to eat too much chocolate,
not to...

Read More

Little white airplane let's go for a fly
The reason I want to, between you and I
Is not to go cruise o'er the top of the earth
It's to send off a message for someone who's worth
All...

Read More

Hunger, I dived
In absolute depression
A sterilized sheet
From your world to mine

I have a box
It is cardboard and ripped
Beaten to the curb, returned and dogged
It holds a million memories and cruel reminders

They pull me like a...

Read More

We are shaped from silence.
I am struck by life's upheaval loudness,
We've been sucked into the abyss.
The deterrents proceed to extensiveness.
We're still utterly annihilated and witless.

Floundering about in a foreign land.
Everything happens at a breakneck pace...

Read More

    Ballerina barre bob, white stocking wings whir
    Mushroom plume tutu trails translucent steam
    Sticky foot pick ups signal patient Spring’s stir
    Pollen...

Read More

(first second third fourth fifth)
Ragged nails gripped the barre,
stiff positions shifting-
canvas toes with a cactus-sharp pointe.
(spot. turn.)
Circles whipping like leather.
(plié. leap and-)
Composed mask cracking like a ceramic doll-
rosy cheeks, glassy eyes awakened
as gravity pulled hair
to...

Read More

If I am driven to attention may that attention break will

Shackle of hope eyes to a sea mountain rumble

To cease opportunity to break down barrel the sight of the sky is just a reason why

To...

Read More

i'll eat your chicken
if you eat mine
but you don't cook
but i can rhyme
but i don't eat meat
even fried cast iron
but i'll eat your chicken
if you eat mine

now a dime ain't worth
a nickel these days
once said...

Read More