First Dance Poem by Brian Kilpatrick

Poor eleven year old boy
Both parents in the hospital
Not knowing if your next meal was possible
Hopes of a black friend would feed me again
Deep fried chicken and collard greens
Temporarily filled all my limited dreams

Television was blurry then
Almost as blurry as my memory
But I can remember being prepubescent
Having Soul Train whistle through my friend’s apartment
And his sister a beautiful 15 year old African Queen
Determine that she would dance with me
1,2,3,4, she counted
Her laughter at my awkwardness sang out
Her dance lesson gave me a sense of joy
Temporarily eased my loneliness and despair
Of all of my eleven years

And all these years later
My love admiration gratitude and attraction too all of the
African American women
That danced fed and mothered me over the years
Is as alive today as was during my very first dance lesson