How Now..?
by mary etta perry

For the songs I’ve never heard,
I shall listen more and again.

For the poems I’ve yet to write,
I shall pick up my pen.

But…how shall I dance
How now, shall I dance?

I have not danced enough, and so
I must find new ways, more gentle,
body friendly ways for dancing!

…Now that splitting firewood
is definitely out…
as is hammer and chisel,
shovel and hoe…how now,
shall I learn to dance?

No more with needle
and pretty threads….
That dance is too precisely fine
For fingers
As stiffened as mine!

No longer with tent camping
Sleeping out on cold rocky
Forest knoll…that one is

too
demanding

for my unmalleable body

But
I have not danced nearly enough
And so…I must find new ways
For dancing!