Dance Lesson

The hole in the ceiling is a mere distraction 

from the wall that disappeared entirely

from her inner being. 

A new attack of restlessness broke away 

as soon as the loneliest of all the monsters 

failed to grip her.

There must have been some reason the deepest 

black had failed to lodge inside her, maybe 

one of those shells in which she heard 

the sound of the sea and suddenly knew 

exactly what she had been back then,

something rolling, something moving, 

something that danced of its own free will,

white and sparkling, before anyone bothered 

to examine the pieces of her chalk white house.

[LSS, 12/30/20]