LA DANSEUSE AUX CHAUSSONS

La Danseuse Aux Chaussons * Like a Degas painting A flash of tulle Shiny pink ribbons From her laced up Pointe shoes Toes deformed Pushed into the form They must be bound in order to be sound The smell of grease paint Mixed with the sweat Of long hours of practice and the energy spent a muscular leg of tiny proportions must not be too tall to disrupt the contortions as a waif-like girl child flys from the stage you don’t know what she goes through to maintain that weight She goes to bed hungry And every night She dreams of being famous And that one extra bite She practices more Than the other girls To maintain her position in the favored lead role She must stay lean And she must remain slim So male leads won’t complain Of lifting in pain She swallows a cotton ball As her friend looks away Washed down with some water To keep hunger at bay After hours of practice She now is alone in her tiny apartment with her cat she calls home There’s no time for a boyfriend Or husband in her future Just the here and now Of missed children to nurture She thinks it’s too late To chase down that dream She once thought her fate When she was a teen As she closes her eyes And turns out the light Her thoughts turn to roses And opening night. * WordPlaya, August 2009