May Ball by Kim Whysall-Hammond (ONE GOOD MEMORY Series)

May Ball
by Kim Whysall-Hammond

After the music and breakfasts
for the few awake, we wade, you and I
barefoot through bright grass
along the river, back to my room
tired, footsore, happy

A bird calls by the reeds
notes curl amongst themselves,
spin through summer dawn
tranquillity reigns here yet
distantly, traffic busies itself

After a full night dancing
we walk.

Photo by Volodymyr Ivash. 

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: This poem captures the memory of a May Ball, many years ago. The first time that I had ever seen the love of my life dance. But the dawn walk across the grass back to my room stands clear in my memory—perhaps because of this poem, which was written that very morning.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kim Whysall-Hammond is a Londoner who needs to be up among mountains, traipsing across moors or finding lonely tracks in green hills. She now lives deep in splendid countryside. An Astronomer and Telecommunications expert, she finds poetry in deep space and the natural world. She has poems in recent anthologies from Milk and Cake Press, Palewell Press, and Wild Pressed Books. Kim shares poetry at thecheesesellerswife.wordpress.com.

Last Dance by Jen Emery (ONE GOOD MEMORY Series)

Last Dance
by Jen Emery

My father is helping my mother down the stairs,
face to face, him a step below her
so that they’d be eye to eye, save
that my mother is head down, eyes trained
to a spot on the carpet behind his corduroy knees.

As for my father, his eyes never leave
my mother’s face. His big hands cup
her elbows, and her fingers grip his forearms,
as though they’re about to embark on a wild reel
on a five, six, seven, eight …

My father steps back, shoes toeing each tread
before lowering, down and away from her, leading her on
with the slightest lift of his arms to bring her back
towards him – down and forwards, forwards and down –
his ears and neck flushed red from the exertion.

Almost there and she skips a beat – falters,
tightens her grip, stays on her feet.
Have I ever let you fall, Kathleen?
My father lifts his chin.
In fifty seven fecking years – have I ever let you fall?

PAINTING: Tango by Frantisek Kupka (1909).

 NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: This poem makes me happy-sad. I was sitting on the sofa in my parents’ house just after lockdown ended, drinking a glass of wine, and thinking how much we’d all aged. The light was falling through the hall as they came down the stairs together, and there was something so sad, so ordinary and so beautiful about the scene. I wanted to write about it, but struggled at first to really make it live. The idea of the dance helped hugely – we grew up going to ceilidhs – as did a late decision to include my dad’s (very direct!) direct speech at the end.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jen Emery thinks, writes, and speaks about work and life in all its messy beauty. Her poetry has been published in magazines, including Atrium, Brittle Star, and The Interpreter’s House, and her short story in verse, Songs of Snow and Silence, was published by Atmosphere Press in 2021. She blogs at jenemery.com. Born and raised in Edinburgh, she now lives in London with her family and two unruly dogs. She works in the City but much prefers sonnets to spreadsheets.

COVID Lockup in Lima by Rose Mary Boehm (PRIME MOVERS SERIES)

COVID Lockup in Lima
by Rose Mary Boehm

It’s quiet Sundays again. Our Presi
(and his band of braves) have decided
that we’ve had enough fun. Back to total lockup
on Sundays. Just heard the police giving someone
a hard time. The woman was walking her dog.
What, the poor dog can’t poop on Sundays?

So, today there are no cars, no dog barking,
no young voices laughing. I look out of the window
and the only living things are the palm trees
and the ever-increasing flock, colony, fleet,
parcel, or dissimulation of birds. The Pacific
is gently sighing its waves onto the pebble shore.
No witnesses.

But during the week it’s COVID entertainment.
And they are getting better. Bring a smile
to my face every time they pass. A trumpet,
a guitar, a drum and a singer. They make
their way along the boardwalks of Lima
to keep us locked-up folk smiling.
At first it hurt a bit. But they

must be practicing their craft. Every day
they keep the rhythm better, the singer
almost hits the right notes, the guitar
seems to be strumming with more confidence,
the trumpet no longer tortured.

Let me celebrate the bringers of cheer,
not wanting anything else but smiling faces
at the windows of the many high-rises along
the seafront. Every fifty meters or so
they stop to play Peruvian huaynos,
dances of happiness since Inca times.
I swear there once was a gaggle of police
in uniform who jumped and stomped
their hearts out.

PHOTO: Peruvian couple dancing Huayno, a traditional musical genre typical of the Andean region of Peru, Bolivia, northern Argentina, and northern Chile. Photo by Pablo Borca, used by permission. 

NOTE: Huayno is a genre of popular Peruvian Andean music and dance. It is especially common in Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina, but also present in Chile, and is practiced by a variety of ethnic groups, especially the Quechua people. The history of Huayno dates back to colonial Peru as a combination of traditional rural folk music and popular urban dance music. High-pitched vocals are accompanied by a variety of instruments, including quena (flute), harp, siku (panpipe), accordion, saxophone, charango, lute, violin, guitar, and mandolin. Some elements of huayno originate in the music of the pre-Columbian Andes, especially on the territory of the former Inca Empire. Huayno utilizes a distinctive rhythm in which the first beat is stressed and followed by two short beats.

PHOTO: A Quechuan man with traditional dress and drum (Peru, 2018). Photo by Mark Tucan, used by permission. 

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: I am delighted to have this opportunity to write a poem in honor of the people here in Lima who have only one wish: to see the rest of us (especially the over-65s who are still in strict quarantine) stand at their windows and smile and clap. They are simple folk and could sure do with some money. But they do it from the goodness of their hearts. I find that very moving. At times even the police join in. Police have also in the past been driving slowly up and down the streets, windows open, playing happy music at full blast. You have to love the good intentions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: A German-born UK national, Rose Mary Boehm lives and works in Lima, Peru. Author of two novels and Tangents, a full-length poetry collection published in the UK in 2011, she’s a three-time winner of the Goodreads monthly competition. Recent poetry collections are From the Ruhr to Somewhere Near Dresden 1939-1949: A Child’s Journey and Peru Blues or Lady Gaga Won’t Be Back. Her latest full-length poetry manuscript, The Rain Girl, will be will be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all good bookshops starting on September 10, 2020.   

In formation, poem by Angela L. Treviño (MY FIRST JOB Poetry and Prose Series)

In formation
by Angela L. Treviño

We stand; eyes forward, above the sea
of heads and hair. Bodies as stiff
and motionless as the mannequins
that stand beside us. We are dressed
in all black, ready for our orders.
One of our generals steps out from
the line and faces us; eyes focused.

He lifts his arms to gather our attention.
We put our focus on his extended arms
as they stretch out to the ceiling.
He mouths “One, Two, Three.”
before gently flicking his wrists.
In unison we open our mouths;
our voices blend together
in synchronization.

Our bodies follow the melody,
engrained in our minds from hours
of training. Two sergeants emerged
from our dance line to sing their solos
before gracefully sliding back
into formation. The general
continues to signal orders
as we march and sing.

When the end of the war came
we froze in triumphant victory
as people clapped and cheered.
for our victory. The general lowered
one of his arms and tucked it behind
his back; he turned to the crowd and
bowed. With a flick of his wrist
we bowed together in formation
before making our way back to the base
to begin training once again.

IMAGE: “Dancers” bt Erte (1892-1990).

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Before I began my journey as a writer, I was a vocalist for two years. I remembered my very first performance. I was so scared that I would mess up the choreography or do something wrong. My instructors were strict. We had to practice standing still, posing, smiling, breathing, silence, and everything above. But once we finished I felt a sense of relief and accomplishment. Over time, it became natural. We were a force to be reckoned with; similar to the military.

AUTHOR’S PHOTO CAPTION: This is one of the performances I had to do in 2013. This was around my second year performing. We always had to wear these long black gowns for all our performances. I was a senior at the time.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Angela L. Treviño is a student at Aurora University studying English. She also is minoring in Latino Studies, Political Science, and American Sign Language. She invests her time in improving her writing. She loves to write most of her poems in Spanglish, a hybrid of both English and Spanish. She has a goal of publishing a poetry book before she graduates from college in Spring 2018.

Will you? poem by Salena Casha (ME, AT 17 Poetry & Prose Series)

Will you?
by Salena Casha

It was a chant
A quick one-two beat
My tongue thick with nerves
So wired i could feel every
Postule writhing in a language
i didn’t know.

The notecard: tucked into my pocket
edges pinching my fingers
speaking to me in my own tongue
even though i was fluent in his
within my head.

It didn’t matter, the answer, nein.
No, danke. Thank you.
I trained myself for this,
practiced the way he’d say it
blond curls lit up and burning my
insides.

The air smelled of baked asphalt,
curried pollen, boy sweat.
He walked ahead, his converse
soles slapping away from me
and i stepped in his shoes. Keeping up
but behind.

I don’t know if i said his name but he turned to me
and my hands shook even though it was my tongue
that would do the talking and someone whispered

“Willst du mit mir zum Prom gehen?“

He frowned. No nein. No no. Just a blank stare
As i shuffled for the card and offered it to him,
my handwriting smudged, my fingerprints stained
and smeared on the blue lines.

He looked at me and smiled, wide and bright,
and I stared into him, a transfixed star
even as my face burnt red in the sun.

AUTHOR’S PHOTO CAPTION: Friends are the best sort of dates to proms (6/8/2009).

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Some people say kids are resilient, but at 17 you feel fragile. Like a word could splinter a sliver of you, an important puzzle piece, especially if it’s a “no.” But still, somehow, the romantics of that age prevail. Or at least they did for me when I asked a German exchange student to prom my senior year of high school. Embarrassing? Yes. Successful? I don’t have any prom photos to prove it. However, that moment when I offered him my heart on an index card is one of the most formative moments in the year of Salena Casha: teen nerd.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Salena Casha‘s work has appeared in over 30 publications. She was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize for her story “Il Sale Della Terra,” which appeared in the fall issue of Mulberry Fork Review and her flash fiction piece was selected by Roxane Gay for the Top (Very) Short Stories of 2015. She was a finalist for the 2013-2014 Boston Public Library’s Children’s Writer-in-Residence and a 2011 Bread Loaf Scholarship Recipient in Fiction. Her first three picture books are housed under the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt umbrella. Follow her on twitter @salaylay_c.

Imagined, poem by Dorothy Swoope (MY IMAGINARY SKILL Poetry and Prose Series)

Imagined
by Dorothy Swoope

I imagined I
was Isadora —
diaphanous
dancing barefoot
on a lush summer lawn,
fragrant flowers
woven through
my flowing hair —
lithe and light,
a loosened, bright
Pre-Raphaelite.

IMAGE: “Isadora,” portrait of dancer Isadora Duncan by Arnold Genthe (1926).

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: I was inspired to write this piece through the Silver Birch Press prompt “My Imaginary Skill”  I spent hours imagining I was Isadora Duncan and would dance and swirl aimlessly in my own world around the house in winter or out on our front lawn in summer, thoroughly entranced with myself!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dorothy Swoope is an award-winning poet and long-time resident of the South Coast, New South Wales, in Australia. Her writings have been published in newspapers, anthologies, and literary magazines in Australia and the USA. A collection of poems, The touch of a word, was published in 2000. Inspiration is everywhere.

On Being Fred Astaire Through Automatic Doors, poem by James Penha (MY IMAGINARY SKILL Poetry and Prose Series)

On Being Fred Astaire
Through Automatic Doors
by James Penha

At the lightest touch of the tip of the toe
of my black patent leather pump
I felt the                   surge     of power
and she arced
gracefully
back from nine to noon. She
paused, quivered, waited.
“I sing the body electric,” he said but sang
instead “A Fine Romance.”
As he
retreated
               bounced ahead, accelerated,
slowed
to
the
poco meno mossa, stepped
from side to side
in three quarter
swing time,
she responded with
Adele’s fondness,
Ginger’s starlight,
Barrie’s ardor,
the strength of Cyd,
steel and glass.
“Welcome shoppers!” I was trapped.
She nestled in her jamb.

PHOTO: The poet in Fred’s white tie and (not visible) tails.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: I have adapted this poem for the Silver Birch Press “My Imaginary Skill” series from a version that was originally published in Milkweed Chronicle in (gulp!) 1980.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: A native New Yorker, James Penha has lived for the past quarter-century in Indonesia. He has been nominated for Pushcart Prizes in fiction and in poetry. His essay “It’s Been a Long Time Coming” was featured in The New York Times “Modern Love” column in April 2016.  Penha edits TheNewVerse.News, an online journal of current-events poetry. Visit him on Twitter @JamesPenha.

Slinky, poem by Rose Mary Boehm (MY IMAGINARY SKILL Poetry and Prose Series)

Slinky
by Rose Mary Boehm

I could see myself. The singing, dancing,
long-legged Rita Hayworth double. I would.
I did. I do. Mame.
Long mane, probably red. Long
gloves until over my elbows.
Probably black.
Dress? Silk and shine and hugging my thighs
and calves. At least six inches of heel.
How I’d dazzle, how I’d pirouette, how I’d
swing my hips without being vulgar. Never
be vulgar, my mother said. Oh no, ma’am.
I’d put Ginger to shame. Fred and Rose.
No boogie. The Marimba?
Begin the Beguine?
More athletic? Gene and Rose?
For Gene I might be Leslie Caron instead of Rita.
Perhaps.
But she was too sweet.
No, not John Travolta. The emphasis
Is on “slinky.” Someone from the underworld
would come backstage
and offer to shoot himself
unless I said “yes.”

PHOTO: Rita Hayworth and Fred Astaire in a scene from You Were Never Lovelier (1942).

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: When I was socially gauche, my dancing skills negligible, my red high-heeled peep-toes hurt my feet, and when I wondered whether I would ever be looked at by any male, I imagined I could exchange my mouse-blonde ponytail for Rita Hayworth’s blonde mane, my awkward gait for her sinuous moves, could flow across a stage with at least Fred Astaire, and be admired by all.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: A German-born U.K. national, Rose Mary Boehm lives and works in Lima, Peru. Author of TANGENTS, a poetry collection published in the U.K. (2011/2012), her work has been widely published in U.S. poetry journals (online and print).  Twice winner of the Goodreads monthly competition, her new poetry collection (From the Ruhr to Somewhere Near Dresden 1939-1949) was published by Aldrich Press in May 2016, and another new collection will be published by Kelsay Books in 2016/2017.

Flexagility, poem by Mike Dailey (MY IMAGINARY SKILL Poetry and Prose Series)

Flexagility
by Mike Dailey

I can bend at the waist, put my head between knees
See what’s in my back pocket and do that with ease
I can criss-cross my legs and then walk on my hands
I can stand on a ball and juggle six pans
I can place a broom handle on the tip of my nose
And keep it upright while I count all my toes
I can spin on my head maybe six times or more
While bouncing a basketball all over the floor
I can run up a wall, do a back flip and then
Run back up the wall and do it again
I can put both my ankles in back of my head
Then bounce from my chair all the way to my bed
I can unhinge my jaw put my fist in my mouth
I can stare towards the north with my feet walking south
I can do all these things but the thing I can’t do
Get a picture of me doing these things for you

PHOTO: Fred Astaire dancing on the walls and ceiling in Royal Wedding (1951).

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: I liked the challenge of finding something I could not do but wish that I could. At 67 years old, I am not as flexible as I once was, and I was never as flexible or as agile as I always wanted to be. With that in mind, I just started putting down all the flexible and coordinated things that I would have done to impress the ladies had I been able to do so in my youth.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mike Dailey lives in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. He is a teller of stories in rhythm and rhyme. He has been writing poetry most of his life and has three published books of his poems with a fourth on the way. He leaves the introspective, deep personal poetry to others while he concentrates his poems on the interesting and often odd happening stories that most people overlook.

Me as Patrick Swayze, poem by Patrick Lee Marshall (SAME NAME Poetry and Prose Series)

Me as Patrick Swayze
by Patrick Lee Marshall

Dirty Dancing,
ready in a heartbeat
to sing, move, teach.
Music taking you
places you didn’t
know you could go.

My song and dance;
cleaning messes
made by shoppers
during the day,
dragging their feet
across the floor,
spilling their drinks,
throwing their trash,
in rhythm to music
from ceiling speakers.

I practice with a mop,
moving dirt.
He moves Jennifer Grey.
There is something wrong
with my picture.

PHOTO: Patrick Swayze in a scene from Dirty Dancing (1987).

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: I grew up singing in church. I tried to dance; that’s the most I can say about that subject. However, I was not bashful. I worked at a grocery store in Irving, Texas in the early sixties. We were cleaning the store one night and switched the sound system to a local pop station. I did not realize a friend took a picture until he gave it to me later. I was singing and dancing with a mop for a partner, standing on the bucket. Years later, I saw Dirty Dancing and was delighted by dance moves in the movie. When the SAME NAME Series was announced, I knew I had to find that picture and write something.

PHOTO: Taken in 1962 at Hutch’s Grocery Store, Irving, Texas.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Patrick Lee Marshall is a member of the Denton Poets’ Assembly, Poetry Society of Texas, and the National Federation of State Poetry Societies. His poetry has appeared in over 20 publications and anthologies, including Encore: Prize Poems of the NFSPS, A Galaxy of Verse, Blue Hole Magazine, Merging Visions (Collections II, III and IV), Inkwell Echoes, Hunger for Peace, and Visions. He lives in Keller, Texas, with his wife Andrea and three cats.