Beginnings: 1960-1980: Applause Poem by Phyllis I. Behrens

feel
i
feel
a poem
coming on
dancing on
down pages
of words
letter
by caroling letter
until it twirls into
your arms and bursts
between your eyes into
a hymn of recognition.
for your heartbeat
is the tempo
throbbing softly
from word to word
and your furrowed brow,
the cadenza
marking stanza from stanza;
and you cannot be the audience
for you are the orchestra
and you are the chorus
and you are the dancer
and i am writing your applause.