Posted on by carysowenpoetry3028

Breaking

.

Early hip-hop

~ we’re talking early 80’s ~

blares on the boom-box…

…we pass an arm wave

round the circle

holding hands

and laughing

.

I’m working in

a youth centre

~ in my early 20’s ~

trying to connect

with the disconnected

.

They lay down

flattened cardboard

in the middle of the room

crank the music

and take turns

busting a move

popping and locking

three-step into worm

shoulder freeze, shooting star

and head-spin

.

‘Go on!’ they shout

‘Have a go!’

.

Caught up in the moment

wanting to reach them

I step forward

bow my head

kick up my legs

with no fear

of breaking

.

By Carys Owen

.

This week’s dVerse poetry prompt: ‘You must simply pen a poem to the theme of dance.’

This brought back a long forgotten memory of some cool teens trying to school a twenty two year old me. Good times!

Fellow trivia nerds will be interested to know that Breaking (Break Dancing) will feature in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

11 Replies to “Breaking”

  1. I think in my age I would probably break a bone doing break dance.
    I happened to come upon info that the first mainstrem hip-hop song was actually made by Blondie (Rapture) who picked it up from the New York scene…

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  3. I enjoyed your fun break dance poem, Carys, and it made me smile. I remember something similar when I was teaching, although it was a decade or two later, and some of my students tried to teach me some moves. I easily pictured the joy in these lines:
    ‘…we pass an arm wave
    round the circle
    holding hands
    and laughing’ –
    and great way of connecting with the disconnected –
    and
    ‘busting a move
    popping and locking
    three-step into worm
    shoulder freeze, shooting star
    and head-spin’.

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  4. Your brought the dance “to life” ~~ cheers! A huge thank you for leaving a comforting message on my dance poem. Gordon was a ‘force of life’ … he will be missed by many, many people.

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  7. Dancing makes connections in ways we can’t easily understand. I love this window into how the “disconnected” find release (freedom?) in an authenticity that music and movement brings.

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