A Love Poem: for dance

If LOVE is just for romance,

then why does my heart swell

like a balloon with helium on my father’s birthday

to witness beautiful steps strung together by threads of sincerity

bound by connective tissues of passion?

If POETRY is just for writing,

then why is every song an empty page that I fill with my own words,

a chance to speak,

to say something,

to share,

to find my voice?

If MUSIC is just for textbooks,

then why does dance tell a timeless story?

Why do we care about the greats, no, not Alexander,

but Hines, Fosse, Graham, Astaire and Rogers, Kelly?

Why craft unforgettable moments if they won’t be etched into the minds

of every soul fortunate enough to bear witness?

If COMMUNITY is just for teams,

then why does dance make family of strangers,

tugging hearts, forming inexplicable bonds,

stronger than Elmer’s or hydrogen?

How does moving and breathing together foster unity?

If GENIUS is just for science,

then why does it take brilliance to create a masterpiece,

to organize dozens of bodies

into perfect angles

    and shapes

and lines

that function in perfect cohesion to paint images

meshing and shifting together to move souls?

If ART is just for museums,

for “no touching,” and “no pictures please,” and “make the check out to…”

then why does every hair on my flesh stand at militant attention

when I take in the beauty of a matured dancer?

Why is dance my trade, my outlet, my artistry?

If dance is just a hobby,

just an extracurricular activity,

why have I bled

and ached

and sobbed

for fourteen years

over a line on my resume?

If dance isn’t an expression of LOVE, a POEM of honesty,

a string of harmonious MUSIC notes, a chance to make HISTORY,

a COMMUNITY of givers, a work of GENIUS,

a devotion to ART,

how is it that it takes

my

     b  r  e  a  t  h

    a        w        a       y

yet I can't breath without it?