When taking photographs, you don’t always get the one you planned. We recently took my grandchildren to a local art museum. There were dancers in the gallery advertising an upcoming performance of The Nutcracker. I wanted my grandson Leo to take a picture with them. Well, he’s 3 and he was afraid of the dancers, so he kept his distance. I took this photo anyway. Now I look at it as a potential poem prompt.
The Nutcracker is as traditional in the United States as Christmas caroling. We all know the story. We can conjure the iconic music in our heads. It’s been years since I attended a performance of the ballet, but I have fond memories of going as a child. Play a bit of the music while musing on this photo, and place a small poem in the comments.
Snowflakes
Margaret Simon, draft hay(na)ku
flutter in–
a gallery dance
Reflections on the Teche 
Thanks for sharing this lovely photo, Margaret…I love the juxtaposition of visual art and the dancers, not dancing:
READY TO DANCE
See me?
See how I pose, toes
pointed, spine straight
from hips to head
unrelaxed and ready—
rhythm inside and thrumming—
to dance.
Exactly, Carol, you have captured the posture of such trained, hard-working dancers, they are dancing on the inside all the time. It is a beautiful art and your poem, a delight. I love: See how I pose, toes and rhythm inside and thrumming. Oh to be young again and dance.
Thank you, Janet! And yes, oh to dance…And yet, I recall when I had my first hip replacement, the MD took one look at my X-ray and said, “Your back is also a mess. Were you a dancer?” : )
Such a good description: toes pointed, spine straight… thrumming… lovely!
Thanks, Karen!
This is lovely…pose, toes, thrumming.
I like “rhythm inside thrumming”. I imagine like musicians, dancers feel this.
Your poem “pose, toes pointed, spine straight” brings me back to memories of watching beautiful, professional ballerinas and thinking how difficult it must be to be a ballerina. I love “rhythm inside and thrumming”!
Ah Margaret, close to my heart always. In 5th grade I was so lucky to be chosen to be the Sugarplum Fairy in a children’s theater workshop adapted performance of The Nutcracker. Nothing fancy but the world to me. Now I share this experience with my granddaughter who is a natural dancer. Here’s my quick write on this beautiful, wonderful photo that fills me with joy. To this day my memory of being on the stage, performing my solo dance that I was allowed to create on my own fills me with happiness. I knew then and now how lucky I was.
Dreams Revisited, draft
Dancers are sugarplums,
snowflakes and flowers.
Gliding, enticing
they season the season
with music and magic;
these sweet twirling fairies,
transport us to childhood
and dreams of the Nutcracker
tucked safe in our hearts.
Janet Clare Fagal
Indeed, they do trigger memories, Janet. Your lovely poem made me remember that my childhood heroine, Maria Tallchief, was the dancer who really brought attention to The Nutcracker.
What IS a sugarplum? I’ve never known…but these dancers really could be what they are.
Ah Linda, a sugarplum is a round sugary sweet, a bonbon, generically perhaps a “treat”. Here is a recipe I found on line. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/sugarplums-recipe-1948978 and I think there are others. I am not sure what we have here in the US that traditionally is a “true” or “authentic” sugarplum. I think it is more a general idea of a sweet. Marzipan may be close, too, since Clara (Marie) and the Prince went on a trip to the Land of Sweets on their wonderful journey and one number is performed by marzipan dancers in some versions of the show. You know those “visions of sugarplums danced in their heads!”
This poem evokes a strong childhood memory for me. I was not a dancer, though, always an observer.
Janet, how wonderful for you to be the Sugar plum Fairy! How great it must be to see your granddaughter dancing ballet. Your vivid imagery immediately transported me to watching The Nutcracker Every year on TV. Both my children and I loved reading a book about the production and watching a performance of the Nutcracker that had children they knew in it. I especially love the lines “Gliding, enticing they season the season with music and magic” and “tucked safe in our hearts”. Beautiful poem.
Three masked ballerinas –
their graceful limbs
poised for a turn –
sit in a gallery with
framed art and
a profusion of roads
all vying
for attention
ah, yes…those beauties.
Karen, I bet those ballerinas could have posed in various ways, creating live Degas’ paintings. I wish I could have seen this, I would have been mesmerized. I think the triumph of art, music and dance performed by these young ballerinas would be spectacular. It’s almost like the beautiful impromptu performances of song and music that graced our lives just a few years ago. Your poem got my attention for sure!
I like the word “poised”. It describes their stance perfectly.
Karen, I especially love “graceful limbs poised for a turn” and “all vying for attention”.
Margaret, sorry I’m late to the poetry party, again. You a wrote beautiful short poem; I love the imagery. I love your whole poem, but snowflakes flutter hooked me and struck a chord for me. I don’t think I’ve heard of hay (na) ku, before. I’ll have to give it a whirl. I wondered what the dancers were supposed to be. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen The Nutcracker on stage or on TV, though I’ve always loved it. When I hear the music, it instantly brings me back to watching it on TV when I was a child every year. I remember taking my girls when they were pretty young to see it; they loved it. We knew some of the children in the performance. When they were older, I bought tickets for us to go again. However, we received a big snowstorm and couldn’t go.
Leo’s fear reminds me when our youngest daughter was afraid to sit for a photo with Santa and our oldest daughter. She was okay for the picture sitting on my lap, though. She was almost three because she has a January birthday.
I actually wrote my poem Wednesday morning but didn’t get a chance to post until now.
ballerinas
fairies dancing
magic into hearts
Gail Aldous draft 12/15/21
Thank you for sharing a new form for me, your photo, your inspiration, and an activity with Leo. I love reading about your grandchildren and seeing photos of them.
Love “magic into hearts”. Thanks for reading and posting. There is no “late” when it comes to writing poetry.
Thank you, Margaret. 🙂