Why I am not a Dancer

I am not a dancer. I’m a poet.
I mean, I tried dancing -
got all the gear, the pumps,
the leg warmers, the bag
to keep them in with my name on
and a picture of a ballerina
but nobody told me
you had to practise. Oh, I tried,
did my plies holding onto a chair
but I was always a poet inside.

The thing about poetry is
you don’t need much stuff,
just an old pencil, some paper -
till receipt, back of an envelope.
You don’t even need a chair
to hang onto while you practise.
That towel rail in the bathroom
was never designed to be a barre!
It left a hole in the wall. I tried
but I was always a poet inside.