• leaflet

    . . .a thin triangular flap of a heart valve. . . a small book usually having a paper cover . . . a medical lit-art e-journal from The Permanente Press
  • 1

Danseur Dreams

Vol 6: Iss 2, Poetry

i. Prelude 

Delicate gloved fingers 
separate herniated disc 
from my spinal cord
with meticulous grace,

a supple dancer’s back 
tattooed with indelible pain,
lyrical verses of freedom
filleted by the surgeon,

Amidst anesthetic dreams
scintillating sparks explode,
fireworks surround me
in utter confusion.

 

ii. Adagio

Legs left to ponder footsteps
one by one down corridors 
attached insect-like to a walker,
left to build a new trust

feeling the ground with gratitude
feet mourn for plies of the past
for toes sensually stroking the floor
for epaulement, the bravado of youth

uplifted chin and haughty finger
held aloft from bended knee
left on a dusty cluttered shelf,

Spoken as an elegy of metal and bone,
joined in a slow duet through light
diffused in the slanting shadows.