Dance and Poetry

My first manuscript “The Honeysuckle Collection” is almost ready to go off to the publishers! More than  80 poems and quite a few paintings and photos! Exciting!

And,

for an advance viewing of one of my poems, here is the one I wrote for Alice Armstrong, for her local radio programme – all about Five Rhythms Dancing. To listen to me reading it listen to the programme
http://www.mixcloud.com/alicearmstrong/5-rhythms/

 

Dance!


 My Dance 

Came nervously

Full of self conscious

Judgement

 

 I remember those 12 judges  

Of long grey beards

That danced about me

In a tight circle

 

 Protecting me

From what dangers

I shall never know

They drew me in to myself

 

 And left me

Bereft

Of human contact

Alone, and lonely too

 

 In the great city of Berlin

By a lover betrayed

I danced

My beauty

 

 And was seen

By a man from foreign parts

Looking on

He honoured me

 

 

 With words that

Spoke

He had seen my essence

The romantic soul within

 

 

With tears    

My being began

To see itself

In this body, now

 

 And friends

They said, Come,

Beckoning to me

From the dance space they loved

 

 And frightened fawn

That I was

Said I, No

Over and over

 

 Till one day

My lyrical soul

Could bear it no more

To the dance

 

 It declared

And took me off

To the 5 rhythms

Space in the centre of our town

 

 Awkward, nervous

Painfully aware

Of the lover

Who betrayed

 

Dancing his heart out    5

Playfully

Lovingly

Fully himself

 

 With every woman

But me

Blanking my hurting,

Bleeding heart

 

 And yet still I came

And danced my dance

Painfully, awkwardly

Dancing my loss

 

 Till one day

He was gone

And I was still dancing

Here in the space in the centre of our town

 

 Heart of our town

Clunky grey edifice

Unwieldy clumsy elephant

Amongst graceful remnants of our past

 

 Clunky grey edifice

Monday nights

You are redeemed

Holder of all of our hearts

 

 5 rhythms on a Monday  

I cannot begin to tell

The community

That lives within your grey walls

 

 My heart could tell you

If it could speak

It would speak of Love

Connection and Family

 

 It would speak of gratitude

It would speak of tears, of joy, and of fun

It would speak of brothers and sisters…

Of the real kind

 

 It would speak of a place

Where 70 souls

Blend into one

Their prayers lifting higher the air about them

 

 It would speak of a Love

So strong

It is palpable

That Love we all yearn for

 

At 5 Rhythms

On a Monday

In a clunky grey edifice

The heart of Totnes beats

 

Ever growing  

Ever vibrant

‘Tis a temple

To the future

 

Our community

It does grow

Strong in numbers

Strong in intent

 

To be the people

We have been waiting for

My dance

It is sacred

 

To Love

It is the dance

Of my soul

With my spirit

 

It makes my heart sing

Even when it is tears I find

It makes me touch heaven

With my wings

 

It lifts me

From my head

And brings me down

Into my feet

 

It beings life to my fingertips  

Expression

To my face

And enlivens the Love in my heart

 

5 rhythms dance space

Held in unconditional love

By She Who Would Community Found

We are the blessed

 

Who have come to her

From across the land

And across the oceans too

Our myriad experience do we bring

 

To our dance

With She Who Would Community Found

To our dance

To the centre of our being ness

 

Images

They come

Sharp and furious

The friendship bonds

 

The women who love me

Support my process

See my vulnerability

And allow it to be

 

The men    

Whose very maleness

Awakens my woman

To passion, to full being ness

 

There are the ones who dance

Their full uninhibited self

The ones that hide their light

In shame

 

The ones whose grief

They wear as a flower

Upon their chest

And in whose eyes we all rest

 

The ones whose joy

Lifts us higher

And higher

Till we are spent

 

The ones whose communion

Is full of presence

With the one

Or with their chosen partner of the moment

 

The ones whose fatigue

Drags them

Down

To the floor

 

And the ones    

Who would rage

Till all our passion

Is out

 

The writhing mass

Of loving bodies

When we know not

Whose arm, whose leg

 

All of us

It is

That we see

Here in this cameo

 

I today

You tomorrow

She next week

And he the day after

 

Would you

Be we

With us

In the heart of Totnes … ?

 

See the world in a flurry of colour

See the world in a theatre of movement

See the world in all its glory

Come a-dancing on a Monday night….

 

Hear the rhythm of your heart

Yea, and that of others

Echoing

The love

 

Feel the felt sense of body

Your body

My body

Our bodies

 

Feel yourself

Feel alive

Feel vibrant as never before

Come a-dancing with the heart of Totnes

 

2 thoughts on “Dance and Poetry

  1. Thank you so much……beautiful poem that resonated right into my heart, soul and body. I am dancing my dance too 🙂

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