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| Waiting in the Wings Ralph Grady James |
I did well in my endeavors in Dover College, my secondary school in the beautiful port city with the impressive, and famous, White Cliffs.
I was awarded the poetry prize one year. I was fifteen. I wrote about a dancer on an empty stage, where I used a lone dancer braving a stage as my theme. I looked up some of the words in Roget’s Thesaurus, and I found the right “big” words. The poem was me, in disguise. It is my story, my touch of doubt, my entrance, my lively conveyance, and my realization that this is going to be a fight.
In fact, my winning the prize was a testament to my perseverance. The usual body of applicants were my adversaries. I was the odd one out. But, I submitted my piece anyway, and I won, much to the consternation of my loftier competitors.
The Dancer
By: Kidist Asrat
With gliding entrance, and touch of doubt,
The dancer makes her entrance.
As supple as a feline, ready for attack
She lunges into lively conveyance.
Hers is the stage, an empty stage,
Earthly, and void of enchantment.
A magical message she has to disclose,
And does so with fiery entreatment.
One perceives a sudden change of mood,
And the stage has lost its drear.
Her audience now she tries to lure
As her final act draws near.
Dover College
England
1978
Source: Departures: From Memoir - Westward Bound, Western Bond