Apr 29
I Don’t Think I Can Toe-Dance
When I was ten
I used to look at my dance shoes
and wish
they were pale pink
with ribbons to wind
around my ankles and calves
wish they had a magical
toe-box
to help me balance on my toes
but my dance shoes
were black
and flat
with leather on their soles
and one piece of elastic
running across the top
to keep them on my feet
they had little bows
balanced on the tops
my dance shoes
were for dancing
to the sounds of jazz
the swift beats and
syncopated
rhythms
to wild trumpets
and growling saxophones
my shoes could slide
across the wooden floor
like Bennie Goodman
I don’t think I can toe dance
but music still runs through my feet
I know I can dance— jazz!
Pamela Olson, 4/29/09
For Read Write Poem’s prompt
“I don’t think I can. . .”
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What a fabulous poem! The beginning really spoke to me. I used to play the violin and I always looked at it wishing it was a piano. I loved the ending too. The fact that you can’t “toe dance” but “music still runs through [your] feet”. Great, great, great!
Great poem! And I know that irrestible feeling – music, moving feet. I did take ballet as a little kid, and then toe for a short while after that, but was not destined to be a dancer – wrong height, not a small enough frame. So I never experienced the flying part, just the bleeding blisters! Then a few years later, I discovered the Twist, the Pony and the Hand Jive – not a bad compensation for no pink ribbons. I suspect jazz dance is in that broad category, too!
That was a very cute poem. I have done ballet since I was 4, and this is almost my third year on pointe. It is very fun– it hurts most of the time, though. I also used to take tap, jazz, lyrical, and I still do take ballet!
Magic!
very beautiful,
i love it!!
i know how you feel dancing is like you are the only one there and it is very peaceful and it brings out the real you, and it is such a great feeling.