This one is a personal fave! This was written as a poetry exercise in Dr. Wall’s Introduction To Poetry class in Fall 2011. We had to write a poem about one of the items in the room. I chose this pretty, ornate black and gold fan. Imagination took over from there! -JBHarris

Red-fire brimmed skirts twirl
Under far off light, as hard shoes
Lay waste to the ground beneath
His hands make melody of her skin,
Whirling her back and forth,
The coal halo about her
Head and neck revealing divine sculpture
Of her neck and shoulders.
Notes course through the veins of her
Recipients, with her beauty as
Its pulse, hiding the purpose of every
Glance behind a glided fan.
Relaxed now as her rhythm has
Given way to her sway, perfume
Lingering over tablecloths as
Moonlight on water, the halo
Now a rippling waterfall
Between the sculptured
Rock of her back and shoulders.
The pant of every man her
Name as they desire to be the
Cool air that sweeps from the
Wrist gliding over décolletage,
Admiring scarlet lips, that whispers
“No more now.”
–Jennifer Bush (now Harris), September 2011-personal canon/English 3030