First Position

First position

Feet placed just so

Shoulder roll into place

Second position

Third position

The one I like

Slam heel into instep

Into vogued strut

Somewhere in a manila envelope

In one of the dozens of boxes I have yet to sort

Is an eight by ten glossy of me at age four or five

Dance class

Me, black pants (long!)

White shirt with clipped on bow-tie

Surrounded by my leotard harem

Galaxied, I learn some steps

Mostly I’m just watching, transfixed

First position

Feet placed just so

I am apex and omega out-timed

Then second position

At intervals the teacher has us hold

She demonstrates the impossible

Then we do exercises

Easy at first but with each repetition a little harder

But easier than doing nothing

Discovering movement organized into patterns

First position second position

Hold

Hold that thought

Hold that memory

That acceptance of dance as a language

Understanding that fluency is subjective

So when I’m all alone at midnight

I start with the first position

Take it from there

David Trudel   © 2013

Remembrance

Rainswept

I stand alone in darkness

Letting the soft erosion of a million tears

Wash over me

Remembering the ones who no longer live

Feeling the gentle tug

Of the fallen

Unlived dreams

Love unlived

Dissolution of so many hopes

Laid low

 

Face to the wind

I am scoured by cold droplets

Machine gunning out of headstrong clouds

Swirls of memory dance, beguiling and bittersweet

My skin is taut

Thin enough to burst if I allow the depths of my emotion

Free rein

So I restrain the mad sadness

Tamp it down like a musketball of old

Let the memories fade

Declare an end to remembrance

Sign an armistice within my feuding thoughts

Rapprochement

As tears mingle with broken heart blood

Washed away into the night

 

 

David Trudel  ©  2012