Danseuse Sauvage Poem by Keith Shorrocks Johnson

Surviving pogroms, sleeping on the street
Was it such hardships, petite gamine noire,
That taught the steps that put you on your feet
Dancing a wild enticing repertoire?

Wary and weighing up powerful whites
She smiled on indifference and ignorance:
On those who gave eroticism plaudits
And those who traded in vile abhorrence.

Brazen with buck-toothed cheeky elegance
She danced from poverty to stardom
In a wild ecstasy of excellence
A demi-tour of suffering to wisdom.

So that when she returned to her people
She brought rights to triumph over evil.