DAILY PHOTO: Kandy Dancers

Photograph of a plate-spinner at the Kandyan Culture Centre in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
Photograph of a dancer in a Garuda mask at the Kandyan Cultural Centre in Kandy.
Photograph of a trio of dancers in aquamarine costumes at the Kandyan Cultural Centre in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
Photograph of fire-eaters at the Kandyan Cultural Center in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
Photograph of a drummer at the Kandyan Cultural Centre in Kandy, Sri Lanka.

Mud Dance [Free Verse]

PROMPT: Play or Fun

Daily writing prompt
What was the last thing you did for play or fun?

Did a little dance… and so on.

PROMPT: Physical Activities or Exercises

Daily writing prompt
What are your favorite physical activities or exercises?

I never met a one I didn’t like.

Koi Dance [Haiku]

koi - in a pond -
spiral together
and apart.

The Dance [Free Verse]

What force dances one 
into this lovely state?

Light & ecstatic,
Blissful but calm.

Each breath a drug
that sends delicate
shimmers rippling
through the universe.

What force, indeed?

Freedom [Free Verse]

Everyone loves an impassioned dance --
Not merely for its grace & athleticism --

But, also, because it's emblematic
Of being free -- truly free.

If features the two essential levels
Of freedom:

Freedom from without -- one's body
Being unrestricted and untethered.
&
Freedom from within -- one's mind
Being unfettered by self-consciousness.

Unbound and not weighed down by thought...
That is Freedom.

PROMPT: Unplug

Daily writing prompt
How do you know when it’s time to unplug? What do you do to make it happen?

When my body says to move, I move. I dance like a puppet on its string.

PROMPT: Live Performance

What was the last live performance you saw?

Belly dancers doing a series of experimental pieces fusing modern dance with multiple forms of traditional belly dance.

Dancing Through the Graveyard [Common Meter]

When you're dancing through the graveyard
you'll get some angry stares.
They'll call you "disrespectful cad"
for failing to show care.

To be carefree won't offend ghosts;
they'll wish they'd done the same.
But mourners act as if, for Death,
you are the one to blame.

Why should one hold the dance within,
when it longs to be out?
Why should expressing such pure glee
be cause to point and shout?