"Twenty Little Poetry Projects"

Our challenge today is to use all of Jim Simmerman's "Twenty Little Poetry Projects" to write a poem. I'll do my very best! This is bound to be absurd...

The stage

She was a swan, floating on stage,

though her wings were flesh not feathers

The stagnant air smelled of sweat and hairspray,

bloodied pointe shoes

and burnt matches to stop ribbons fraying

Hair in stiffly pulled back buns,

smothered in sticky gel;

not a hair was allowed out of place

The anxious violins of tension 

spun the dancer around the floor,

flailing, begging for her life,

While Annie will stand in the wings,

hoping that the reek will disappear

- it will affect the taste of her apple -

"Man, but this place is minging,"

She'll say

The dancer slips, but her wingless wings

let her glide across the floor

before she finally dies

in the stench

Andrea Vermaak © 2020