I'm putting this one out here because I woke up with Maria in my head (one of my ballet idols when I was young and on toe) and she wouldn't leave. These are couplets, so if you want to know more about couplets, go here. Time to get your toe shoes on and rosin up!
WHAT OF MARIA TALLCHIEF?
Osage girl with blood on your toes
Powdery rosin tickles your nose
Sewing on ribbons and whispering things
You limber up in the dusky wings
And then like a raven your body takes flight
You glide 'cross the stage like a barrow wight
Grace like a swan with your form full of splendor
Pirouetting and leaping; you are no pretender
The music marries you to the light and the air
As you fill it with motion seemingly without care
You've managed to catch the great Ballanchine's eye
As your partner balances you high in the sky
Just as your dance steps have captured the floor
You're winning his heart and he's ready for more.
Career like a torch, you have painted the sky
Little Osage girl who has managed to fly
Everyone hears about Anna Pavlova
Whose Dying Swan hit the stage like a nova
But what do they say of Maria Tallchief?
Who captured the stage like a talented thief
Oklahoma's young daughter so graceful in flight
Your sparkling grand jetes light up the night.
© 2019 by H. Linn Murphy
If you'd like to know more about the amazing Maria Tallchief, here's your link.
And here's a free verse I wrote last year.
DUST
She stands at the mirror
Gazing at a creature of dust,
Broken, desiccated, wilted, cracked
Waiting to blow away in the next stiff breeze.
Painted in patina of shattered dreams.
Who is this denizen of the deep desert silences?
Who is this ..........................Demi-being with a
Depth-scraped..........................................Hole for a
Heart? ..........................................What keeps
Her ...............................................Afloat in a
...................................................Storm? How
............................................Will she know
........................................When it's time
................................... To go? And
.....................................Who can
..........................Answer for
..........................This thing
....................In the mirror?
.................Not I, say
................They all.
..................She has dug
..................This hole
.................Herself.
...................Her head
..................Is full of
..................Cobwebs.
.................We have
..................No need
................Of her
.................Nonsense.
................She
................Is wrong
...............About it
...............All.
© 2018 by H. Linn Murphy
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