Here's Julia Wagner's poem "Coming to Center," first prize poetry winner in the 2014 Bacopa:
Not seeking novelty, but permission,
music provided the first movement.
I would come to understand the world
through those lessons.
The Arabesque, the Frappe, the Jete—
rhetoric of creative motion: my freedom.
The young body, as it trained, became impetuous:
More!
But, something derailed just then—
a danger in silences.
I did not hear well Madame's clapping rhythm
(one-two-three-one-two-three-one-two-three)
but better, those holy metrical stops,
the curious pianist reading close her score.
My Glissade stretched far too long,
Madame's curious brow,
sure to meet just inside the note's rest.
Music taught this, not dance:
to be autonomous, despite the routines.
And to stop when it wanted.
Julia's book Aegis is available at Amazon.com, a collection that experiments with the connections between language and memory. The word Aegis assumes safe passage, a place holder for both word and memory.
