Who Needs Dancing with the Stars? - Jennifer McCloskey
Mixed Media Textile
8.5" x 8.5"
Who Needs Dancing with the Stars?
Jill Clark
Old People Dance in Private.
Not just the Rumba, Charleston, or Lindy Hop
before granddaughter comes to visit.
Twirling around the kitchen
slapping the air with clam-claps
like hollow castanets,
elbows and ankles marching up
an invisible ladder,
joyous spasms jerking.
No name for this dance yet.
Swirling alone recalling fleeting moments
with a toddler who two-stepped
around my heart.
Facing age, hers and mine.
Her day today, seventeen.
Forgiving the sun-ripened silken hair,
cherry-blossomed cheeks
adrift with fruity rose-petal scent—.
The virginal blush.
Her foot jitterbugging in nervous tapping
echoing off a wax-sheened wooden floor
waiting—to slide, to spin, to spill
a heart-crushing slow dance saved only for him.