Pirouette Bare
(Original Version)
She waved her hands and twirled around the stage
with a locket around her neck
of a girl and her mother.
She pressed her hands, squeezing tight the necklace
with every pirouette.
Her dress sparkling bright with sequins
as she flowed along the floor boards,
floating high with ecstasy, stopping
midway while forgetting how to bow
before scurrying off the stage and back
into her living room
filled with her mother’s friends who were smoking,
drinking and dancing along the floor boards
while floating high on ecstasy.
Scurrying upstairs to her dark room alone,
she hung the locket
on the corner of her mirror
and stared at her reflection
before taking the final bow,
as she fell asleep
by an old heater
that was showering kerosene fumes,
the same scent as her mother,
which lulled her to sleep until the next recital.
Pirouette Bare
(Re(en)visioned)
She waved her hands, twirling about the stage,
as a locket crowned her head. One hinge broken,
exposing the tattered image of mother and child.
She furrows her bows,
squeezing tight the necklace,
every pirouette perfect.
Esmés dress, bright with sequins,
flows along the weathered floor,
while Esmé floats high with ecstasy.
Midway she pauses, forgetting how it ends
before scurrying off her stage and down
into the living room
filled with mother’s friends who were toking,
drinking, and dancing along a shiny floor,
while floating on ecstasy.
Rushing upstairs, her room was now dark.
Esmé hangs the locket on broken pieces
of the mirror’s corner,
staring at her reflection and
taking the final bow until her next recital.
She drifts off to sleep by the old heater
that was spewing kerosene fumes,
the same aroma as her mother.
Lightening her load,
feeding her sleep,
while stroking her face and
softly crying, “I missed you.”
Dolores Hoffman is a writer for South Jersey Mom Magazine and Northeast Metro Woman Magazine. Her poem “Deep Roots” was published in Poet’s Choice publication. She was a 2019 Selected Poet for Eastern Shore Voices during Salisbury Week. She is also a business owner. Dolores started writing poetry at the age of 15 and her passion has led her to create a quarterly booklet called “Pick-Me-Up”. These booklets are delivered to local hospitals and cancer centers with the expressed purpose of exposing patients to poetry in a subtle way. She tries to include local poets and artists to fill the pages.
© 2020 Dolores Hoffman
