Ballet

If you're close enough to the stage, you can hear things other than the music and see things other than the costumes.

                                                        Ballet

                                              Looks like a dream,
                                              sounds like gym class:
                                              the sneaker squeak of pirouettes,
                                              the staccato clump of point shoes.
                                              The Sugar Plum Fairy is coated with sweat.
                                              Her Prince is panting with something other than desire.




By the way, I'm now over half done with my promised 181 poems.  That feels good, but it also means my sabbatical is more than half over.