8

The Last Ballet Class

Embed Size (px)

DESCRIPTION

The Last Ballet Class by Francine Rubin imagines a series of apocalyptic ballet classes. Dancers leap and turn in zero gravity, or move in silence on the surface of Mars. They drift languidly at the bottom of the ocean, or move with desperate haste as the world is obliterated by atom bombs. This short collection of poems reads like a series of beautiful dreams. This pamphlet was distributed for free along with issue forty of Neon Literary Magazine.

Citation preview

Page 1: The Last Ballet Class
Page 2: The Last Ballet Class

TH E LA S T BA L L E T CL A S S

is in a green field under blooming supercell clouds,dancers arching, desperately sweeping against grassand warm pressureless air. Clouds blossom like poisonflowers. As the storm’s movements expand,dancers swirl in sky.

Page 3: The Last Ballet Class

TH E LA S T BA L L E T CL A S S

is underwater, dancers' limbs negotiatingdensity, legs pressing against the weightof water. Each jump suspends a moment longer,human mass encumbered by less gravity,waves rocking torsos, bodies succumbingto the ocean’s force.

Page 4: The Last Ballet Class

TH E LA S T BA L L E T CL A S S

is on ice, dancers spinning, muscles fightingfrigidity, bodies cloaked by layers of cloth and woolmuffling each movement. Inexorable rime, unbendingcompositions. Feet tread carefully, avoidingthe unforgiving ice, the crack.

Page 5: The Last Ballet Class

TH E LA S T BA L L E T CL A S S

is in space, Earth a haunting memory, arms and legswafting slowly, perpetually in air,no ground to curtail jumps. Slow dancinggoverns, allegro slackened by the absence of air.The emptiest black against bodies, a sunlights each movement.

Page 6: The Last Ballet Class

TH E LA S T BA L L E T CL A S S

is on WASP­12b, the planet raining molten sapphires,each plié and tendu shimmering blue, bodiesglowing ecstatically in one last burst of life.

Page 7: The Last Ballet Class

TH E LA S T BA L L E T CL A S S

is in darkness, the sun a recollection, bodies movingwithout audience and from internal memory,each dancer blindly replicating plié and tendu,no mirror or teacher's eye for reflection.Dancers search for other dancerswith hands grasping hands, waists, and legs –bodies reading the space and respondingto each verberation.

Page 8: The Last Ballet Class

TH E LA S T BA L L E T CL A S S

is on Mars, leaps hanging in thin air filledwith carbon dioxide, landing in arid canyon,redness shading skin and sky. Suited limbslunge and dart, a moving piece of modern art,lungs sucking oxygen, racing against time.