Today, we found out that Donald Trump was elected for another term. As I reflected on the election, a poem that I wrote for my doctoral project earlier this year came to mind. It’s about dance and release. It is one of many poems that reflect on dance, pole dance, liturgical dance, and both, as a space of healing, recovery, freedom, and empowerment. I hope that you can find spaces of release today, a space to release the pain, grief, despair, disappointment, and all that you’ve been carrying.
“Just go for it”
He said
“Trust yourself”
He said
“Let go”
He said
But she couldn’t
She’d been holding on for so long
She’d only been holding the pole for two minutes
But that wasn’t the only thing she’d been holding
If she let go she might just fall apart
Because she’d been holding herself together
Trying hard to be twice as good
To be top of the class
To be MVP
To achieve success
If she let go she might just fall apart
Because she’d been holding herself together
She was a strong Black woman
And the strong friend
The one who always had it altogether
A Kamala Harris in the making
If she let go the world might just fall apart
Because Black women been holding our society together
Been holding democracy together
Been holding everyone together
Been holding ourselves together…barely
Hanging on by a thread
“Just go for it”
He said
“Trust yourself”
He said
“Let go”
He said
And she did
And she soared
And it freed her
Deirdre Jonese Austin 