Dance is joy,
movement and life
united,
and a good choreographer
places no limits on its audience-
he lets us find the meaning we need
within the frame of the dance.

Look up James Sewell Ballet,
and revel with me.

On "Draft"

Once I wrote a poem,
celebrating my muse,
my inspiration,
the life from which my words sprung.

It was happy,
or at least melancholic
with a positive twist.

and now,
my thoughts turn to her again,
and it was just sad
and bitter
and help

Draft

"you, poet,
who is your muse?"

She, lover,

She is a hand print cooling
and fading
on a car too frozen to move.

She is the wind
gathering up the shredded leaves
to the tune of a broken heart.

I am fucking glorious.
I am no one's second-
I am not what you settle for-

I do not deserve that shit
I don't have to settle for your pity.
No.
Fuck you.

I get that you are trying
to compliment me,
to make me feel better
for being alone
but you've made it worse.

I've humored this for too long.

I know that I am not the greatest,
but I am no one's second.

"My eyes are nothing like the sun-
Coral is far more red than my lips red.
If breasts are white, well mine are dun.
If hair be wires, brown wires grow on my head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
yet no such roses see I in my cheeks.
In perfume there is more delight
than the breath that from my own mouth reeks.
I love to sing and speak yet well I know
that music has a far more pleasing sound.
I grant I never saw a goddess go
for when I walk, I walk upon the ground.
AND YET I am as fair
and any false with me belied compare!"

I may not be beautiful,
but I have a heart too big
and too full of care
to waste it on you.

So I will leave you to your mess,
and find someone
who thinks me his first choice.

I deserve nothing less.

They smile,
and tell me I'm pretty-
that I have an amazing body
("thanks! I'm a dancer!")
and that my kind heart
is practically unbelievable.
that they'd love to date me.

A few minutes later,
they send a quick text to their girlfriends.

I'm the second,
the one they coo about
when they're drunk
and I'm drunk and sad
(never the first without the second)
as if an academic affection
they would never act on
could make me anything
but vaguely annoyed.

I'll still laugh
and smile
because that's what they're going for.
And in the depths of disappointment
how can I do anything
but fulfill their wishes.

I'm not even mad,
because how I can begrudge their joy?
Just annoyed,
as I didn't need this knowledge.

I'll just curl up in a corner,
with some obsession,
pretending I am satisfied.

Renn Faire

Weave me an old story,
a new one,
with Fae and gypsies,
aged peddlers on corners
with eyes sparkling new.

Sing me an ancient song,
a new melody,
with brave knights
in steam-powered armor
or a princess in spun wool.

Lay this spell on me-
If just for an afternoon.

The pieces of a broken set
have been swept to the side.
Tools are put away
and costumes are stored.

The stage is clear,
for a new story,
and I will bid farewell
to the one I cast.

Despite its trial,
I am sorry to see it go.

He is unfailingly kind,
and sweeter than a dream.
He smiles,
and his face transforms
into a glorious sun.

Heads turn to him,
to share in that light,
for goodness
and a bright soul
shines so brilliantly
that all who look on him
can't help but love him.

I'm the friend you forget-
The one who is invited
In grand adventures
When they're nothing more
Than ideas
But omitted when plans solidify-
Usually merely by accident.

I don't know why.
I have always tried
To be funny and smart
And non-threateningly pretty
And over-all appealing
I always do my best
To be helpful
And never ever a burden.

I don't have the skills
To draw souls forth
And gather them for revels,
So I have always depended
On the kindness
And charity of others-
To always feel like a hanger-on,
One-not-belonging
But there anyway.

I have no one
Who is mine,
To remember me
Nine times out of ten
And not lose me in the mess of others.

Must I always stand alone
Or as a puzzle piece
That doesn't fit?

The Stage Manager's "Wouldn't It Be Loverly"

all I want is a booth somewhere
far away from this fake wig hair -
no cell phones go off there
oh wouldn't it be loverly.

lots of chocolate for me to eat.
actors in their places? Sweet!
and no dumb ones to beat
oh wouldn't it be loverly.

oh how loverly sitting absa-bloomin'-lootly still
actors won't stick out of the wing-
and cues go when I will -

someones there on headset with me -
warm and sassy as they can be -
who take good care of me
oh isn't it so loverly.

Leaves are turning red and gold,
a wide array of colors -
and some match the broken mug
that is all I have left
to remind me of a friendship I broke.

I wish you could have been
as clear sighted as Odysseus
and as willing to turn as Raskolnikov.
But you proved as blind
as a poor student with an axe
and as stubborn
as an ancient hero.

I do not wish you
as I would be you be -
for then we would end
each other's fools.
As we already have.

Do me one last favor,
nearly two years
since we finally parted?
Cease haunting me.

A balancing act
is only as good
as the supporting leg.