Celebrating National Poetry Month: The Dancer

I'm 5 and a half years old galloping around the gym in kindergarten class pretending to be a horse when boom all of a sudden I collapse on the floor. The day before I was having so much fun in my ballet class with my giggling girlfriends and my beloved ballet teacher Miss Patricia. While Dr. Moskowitz measured me for a full leg brace I wondered if I would ever be able to dance again.

Eleven years ago, in December of 2006, I sat in Dr. Rosenberg's office in the Spaulding Rehab Outpatient Clinic in Framingham for an evaluation by the International Rehab Center for Polio and Post Polio. I was diagnosed with Post-Polio Syndrome and told to prepare to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair.

I wondered would I ever feel good in my body? Would I ever feel free?

In February of 2007, my imagination was fired up using my pen, my divining rod for healing, as poetry poured out of me at warped speed. It was as though the spigot of my soul was turned on full force and what flowed forth were poems imagining myself healthy, healed, happy and free in my body.

In my mind's eye, even though by all appearances I would never dance again, I saw myself transformed transcending all that went before as:

The Dancer

Crumpled cringing alone in darkness portrait of paralyzed child
heap of limbs loss of control panic fear run rampant and wild.
Enter stage right he gathers her gentle tears honor old embrace new
beautiful ballerina transformed music swells the pas de deux.
Dancing with Spirit she celebrates lost in moment of time and space
winged feet now poetry in motion joyful light ease and grace.

Daring she enters spotlight center stage a vision to behold
vulnerable yet confident - courageous strikingly bold.
On point to an audience she no longer plays,
soul’s rhythm tempo she keeps
magic memories made in each moment
delighting grateful heart leaps.
Her life she now knows has no bounds
choreography her dancing decree
revelations unveiled with each movement
unencumbered expansive now free.

Out of the once deconditioned crumpled body and suffering mind and soul, I created a runner, a dancer and a woman transformed from the effects of paralytic polio and trauma. The power of my imagination as expressed through my poetry opened my portal to healing that continues today.

To your health and wellness
From my heart to yours,
Mary

Proud to be a part of Friends of Blue Diamond Athletic Displays, Inc. Be sure to visit us at Booth 758 during Boston Marathon Weekend.

Be sure to visit my website by following this link.

My books are available on Amazon.

Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life


Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing Hope and Possibility that chronicles the first 7 years of my healing journey:


And my latest and greatest book - Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance (With a Foreword by Jacqueline Hansen):

A Mystical Moment at Boston Sports Club "A swim is good for the body and..."

soul," I said to the lovely and lithe woman in the locker room after Sunday morning's swim at Boston Sports Club finishing her sentence.



"I was going to say soul but you know wasn't sure," she said.

We exchanged pleasantries about how wonderful swimming is.

"I just ran a half marathon so it's great recovery and rehab or me," I said.

"I don't have any cartilage in my knees. It's the only sport I can enjoy."

We gingerly approached asking each other questions. She learned that I avoided spending the rest of my life in a wheelchair after the diagnosis of Post-Polio syndrome and how running has been a powerful force of healing in my life. I learned that she was envious of runners; that she always wanted to be a marathon runner. She watches the Boston Marathon every year on Heartbreak Hill in front of the Newton Town Hall. I haltingly asked her why she didn't have any cartilage in her knees.

She was a ballet dancer for the New York City Ballet. "My physical therapist told me there was no way I would ever be a runner." She told me that she compares marathoners with ballet. "It takes the same discipline and the same ability to move beyond the body's limits having your mind take over when your body wants to quit."

"I grew up in New York," I said and went on to say, "I loved seeing their Nutcracker."

"It was the best ever right?"

She paused for a moment and shared with me the story of Tanaquil 'Tanny' Le Clercq, a prima ballerina struck down in her prime at the age of 27 by polio.

I remembered the story from a link Tom shared with me several years ago. Here are 2 New York Times articles about the legendary Tanny:
A Dancer's Rare Grace Survives A Horrible Fate
Dancing Around the Truth

There was a documentary "Afternoon of a Faun" made about her rise and epic fall yet had an amazing ability to live only in the present moment.


Margaret, as I learned was her name, was almost in a trance as she told me about Tanny and what an inspiration she was for her. She studied with Tanny who continued to teach ballet and mentor up and coming dancers. She commented how much Tanny inspired her as a dancer.

I shared with Margaret how I reached back to when I was 5 years old and was a ballerina to help myself heal after the diagnosis of Post-Polio Syndrome. "You never forget. That's what I was doing at the end of my swim there." Margaret was in the lane next to ours. I wish I would have seen her dancing in the water.

My mystical encounter with Margaret was unlike any other I had experienced in a locker room at Boston Sports Club or anywhere else. There was a Divine presence that captured and captivated each of us. As I watched her movements, my body lit up inside remembering Miss Patricia and how I felt in ballet class before I contracted paralytic polio. I danced from age 3 until 5 1/2. Being in ballet class holds my fondest childhood memories!

We said goodbye and said we'd probably see each other again exchanging first names and a hand shake. I was inspired by her talents as a ballet dancer and she was inspired by me as a marathoner. Each of us had a quiet yearning to be able to achieve what the other had done and yet it was the same discipline, passion and purpose that drove us manifesting in different art forms.

It's a mystical moment in time that has been imprinted in my body stimulating mirror neurons and muscle memory inspiring my body to continue to heal from the effects of paralytic polio and trauma. It's a mystical moment in time that is imprinted on my heart and soul...

Yes indeed ... a swim is good for the body ... and soul.

To your health and wellness
From my heart to yours,
Mary

Proud to be a part of Friends of Blue Diamond Athletic Displays, Inc. Be sure to visit us at Booth 758 during Boston Marathon Weekend.

Be sure to visit my website by following this link.

My books are available on Amazon.

Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life


Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing Hope and Possibility that chronicles the first 7 years of my healing journey:


And my latest and greatest book - Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance (With a Foreword by Jacqueline Hansen):