LIZA MINELLI TURNS OFF A LAMP

Life is a cabaret 

My wife is a Cabernet 

Dance is a pas de bourrée 

The literal French-to-English translation leaves more questions than answers 

pas = not

de = of

bourrée = stuffed 

Not. Of. Stuffed.

I could google why ballet instructors use this phrase for a left-right-left-step then turn.

But I’m too busy picturing my dance teacher in the wings of the Sunshine Coast Civic Centre yelling at me. 

Remember that?

‘SMILE’ 

Turn.

‘LOOK HAPPY’

Lunge. 

‘BE HAPPY’

Heaving tumble.

Sally Bowls don’t know nothing compared to the Sunshine Coast Civic Centre. 

Eistedfodds make the world go round.

^{Footnote: this poem was created using the Spines or Cut Ups constraint as the starting point.}