photoart - murre
by
Angie Trudell Vasquez
Girls
in gossamer gowns
flit
across the stage
little
ballerinas in the making
before
age and race add weight,
pink
tights
light
leather shoes strapped
on
small feet,
before
toe before
they
are conscious
of
limitations,
they
all think they are
beautiful
against the heat
of
the mirror and balance bar
the
instructor plays Swan
Lake
and
says imagine you are
nestled
in white feathers
and
draped tight in white silk
now
see yourself soar
across
the stage and jump
and
leap and spin, see how
pretty
and thin your shoulder blades,
now
open your eyes and begin,
and
all twenty girls run and leap
from
one end to another
thinking,
yes, yes
this
must be how it is
to
press against the sky and fly.
~
first published in Verse Wisconsin
