DANCES ARE SQUARE
There are some dances where different people meet
Exchanging partners enhances the social opportunity
When one glances at another, it makes it all complete
Whether old-fashioned such as the cotillion or quadrille
There’s only one in a million who dances with impunity
As these days, perhaps a civilian or maybe military still
Sword and morris dancing are old and seen as outdated
But as dance steps gradually unfold it does require unity
And bold but ageing onlookers wish they hadn’t waited
Categories:
quadrille, dance,
Form: Rhyme
Like the king of Cordoba’s treasury
Reflected in a robber’s eye
A laden dish of memory
Spills into the summer night
From a moving carriage window
A flaming garter flies
With whoops and calls
And high-pitched trills
The vehicle turns aside
Then flames appear at the curtains
And smoke pours out the doors
As the party falls out laughing
Onto the meadow floor
The air is rich with jacaranda
The earth is green with dill
As the ladies and gentlemen
Of the court
Commence a Spanish quadrille
Arms are raised in laced brocade
The men they clap and sing
The ladies turn and stamp their feet
Let the festival begin!
Categories:
quadrille, celebration, dance, fun, horse,
Form: Free verse
Life spins on a carousel of shadows and stars,
A mystic ball that clothes us in dance steps, with them.
The tango of fate steals us into its hazy whirl,
And each step becomes a heated battle, ablaze.
When the world spins a thread too thin, too mundane,
Cha-cha awakens our senses, an astral spice.
I fly to work in a daily hustle, muted,
Through the foxtrot of the hour I feel the moments bow.
We glide home in the free, tumultuous jitterbug,
For there hides the meaning, in the hokey-pokey sacrosanct.
On tranquil days, we waltz lightly, the moon caught us in play,
It spins us round and round in its fortunate cosmos.
In a circle we live, we spin destinies, we align tangents,
When the dream deepens, with others our steps cross.
Life is an unknown dance, in steps of azure embroidered,
From quadrille to minuet, in mystery it is clothed.
To the rhythm of the soul, I listen, let the light pulse,
And my steps in its wake, through night, to dance.
Categories:
quadrille, fantasy,
Form: Free verse
In My Garden of Freedom
To no human, do I belong!
I am the afterglow of freedom’s song.
My friends bring me water and light.
The hour matters not, even at midnight!
It is no secret, one need not kneel on floors.
Begging for others to open their heart’s doors.
My friends are humble yet accomplished in life skills.
They are not dancing pridefully, to some selfish quadrille.
They rarely, suddenly, disappear nor fall silent in my life.
And those who do…I know their hearts are experiencing strife!
My Lord, has provided more than plentifully for all my needs.
And, I look to that final day, when he brings me home,with Godspeed!
Through many centuries, I am fortunate to have flourished and lived.
I hope that in my final hours, I realize I have taken less than I indeed, gived.
A miraculous life, blessed thrice and spared the gnarls of death!
Let my final words, be in praise of God, in a humble breath.
9/20/2022
Categories:
quadrille, god, how i feel,
Form: Rhyme
They will not let me sleep!
For me, they are far brighter than the sun.
Which seems to wake everyone!
The moon and stars, though to me, are the most deep.
Calling awake my poetess' sleeping pen?
Recalling the beauty of my days and nights.
Kites by day~ then fog, in San Francisco nights.
I cherish you, and like my own child, shall never be forgotten.
Nor the Spartan love-god, that came from your hills.
The blessing of teaching in aromatiic Chinatown.
Those memories as lovely and soft as a foggy dawn.
The moon and stars, each night dance, a sparkling quadrille.
5/8/2021
~3~
Categories:
quadrille, imagery, inspiration, poetess, poetry,
Form: Quatrain
Pale dappled clouds drift across the sky_
Chasing the sun away when she wants to peak out;
And when in the shadow of clouds- there is a chill;
But, still the pretty birds glide and fly;
With many multihued gems floating about;
Calling in high-pitched whining shrills.
While across the water are multicolored shadows;
And scattered bleached rocks (of no particular frills!)
Below the ripples on ripples swim speckled trout;
And the birds are in violent pangs and throes:
As though dancing the quadrille.
_______________________
April 17, 2021
Poetry/Curtail Sonnet/Under Dappled Clouds
Copyright Protected, ID 04-1327-694-17
All Rights Reserved, 2021, Constance La France
Written for the Standard contest, All Yours (Apr 18)
All Rights Reserved, Judged 04/18/2021
First Place
Categories:
quadrille, nature,
Form: Curtal Sonnet
Applauding an Acrostic Aria
Bopping to a Ballade Ballet and Blank verse Berceuse
Clapping to a Cinquain Cantata and Couplet Chorale
Dancing to a Dizain Duet
Exalting in Etheree Etudes and Elegy Ensembles
Frolicking to Free verse Folk songs and Footle Foxtrots
Galavanting to Ghazal Gavottes
Humming harmonies to a Haiku Hip Hop
Inhaling Italian sonnet Instrumentals
Jiving to a Jueje Jig
Keeping time to a Kyrielle Khaliji*
Lolling to a Limerick Lullaby
Marching to a Monorhyme Minuet
Napping to a Narrative Nocturne
Ovations for an Ottava Rima Overture and Ode Opera
Praising a Pantoum Polonaise
Quieting my quarters with a Quatrain Quadrille
Rollicking to Rondeau Rondos and Rhyme Royal Rhapsodies
Singing to Sonnet Sonatas and Sapphic Stanza Symphonies
Tapping toes to a Triolet Trio and a Tanka Tango
Unwinding to an Urban Sonnet Unison
Vocalizing a Villanelle Villanella
Whistling with a Waltz Wave Waltz
eXulting in Yaltos and Zikets
// Lines consist of a verb, a poetry form, and a musical form //
*Khaliji = modern contemporary music of Central and Eastern Arabia
Categories:
quadrille, music, poetry,
Form: Abecedarian
* A Star Danced*
So ebony soft is indeed this night.
However, only to be lit by a dancing star.
I watched with profound amazement,
At all the ballet moves it knew from afar.
Bringing back my childhood.
With its grace and ballet elegance.
You see, night is like a star or firefly,
Whose glory sparkles mostly only at night.
It's been a lifelong mystery to me~
But it is when the sun is gone,
And only then, I am fully alive and truly me.
Darkness divine, emblazons my quill, like a quadrille.
It's only with silver moonbeams and twinkling stars,
I feel as a divinely, embraced, celestial one!
The night is my day, and may it forever be.
For God's nightly heaven, brings out the best in me.
July 8, 2020
11:15pm PST
Dedicated to my fellow ballet partner and Cousin Madelyn,
and our ballet memories and joys with Miss Leila!
Thank you for the footlight memories we shared.
Love you~ "Blue Danube" Panagiota
Categories:
quadrille, chicago, dance, dedication, memory,
Form: Rhyme
Nothing is so beautiful
as equestrian events,
watching graceful horses,
while droppings add their scents.
For true equine lovers,
there is such a thrill
in the coordination of
a well-performed quadrille.
This is one Olympic sport,
where both he and she compete.
Jumping fences or dressage;
they're equal at the meet.
Categories:
quadrille, games, horse,
Form: Rhyme
She walked with grace through grassy meadows
pausing to smell the sensual fragrance
watching the rabbits dart down their barrows
their white tails flashing creating a drama
Azure skies blazing, making perfect the day
she laid in the grass. dreaming of her lover
handsome and very tall he was her mainstay
he set her alight making everything brighter
She remembered the way they spun around
as they danced together through the night
gay garlands hanging down they were spell bound
silhouetted in the dazzling firelight
That perfect night when all the world stood still
their last dance that night was a quadrille
Categories:
quadrille, dance, dream, love,
Form: Sonnet
Come dance with me, I hear the band
Of birds and cricket playing
Quadrille, or mento, now take my hand
The earth on love is turning
Come lie with me, the grass is green
Too wet the golden sand
The dew and mist will be our screen
Our garden all the land
Come share my life, and let me love
Your soul as my heart's queen
We will take each joy ... a gift from above
From passions from joy we glean
Come solace me, and i will solace you
We two little morning dove
Let night be a polka dot of stars, and morning blue
Feast of me, and drink my love
Come dance with me, and be my love
Our bodies twain embrace as one
And we entwined as God behove
Will build our castle in the tropic sun.
Categories:
quadrille, friendship, love, song-lyricdance, dance,
Form: Verse
O that you too could have sat their in awe
I see the human body thaw
From bright emotion into motion
When Sheila Barnett, that Nettleford so Rex
Curved and looped in sweet elation
Petals on wind, eyes camering context
From the stage of egg to chrysallis
This dance poised against memory still
A bead of dew, and dancers bliss
Distilled upon a frozen moment of will.
O they that I could explain more than cumina
Maypole memories or quadrille, the stamina
In the hunger to express
This nation's beauty, its struggling people content
In the glowing sweat of happiness.
The body's twirl of space is better argument
For life than all the sophistries of Kant
And the Heathen rant from Voltaire
To our prayerless hoardes. And the scant
Dress of form does cause a man to sit and stare.
Categories:
quadrille, allegory
Form: Verse