A Bouquet for My Daughter
By Michael Johnson

Hours spent fitting your first pair of toe shoes, hours spent ribboning them,
hours spent practicing, hours spent driving you back and forth
to the studio, hours spent nursing muscular pain, but
then at this spring’s recital, in one sudden
moment on stage in all that light,
when you rose on point,
my heart went,
with you,
up.

Poet’s Showcase features work by area poets. Submit your poetry via e-mail with a subject line of Poet’s Showcase to mpaget@ljworld.com or send typewritten (not handwritten) submissions to Mindie Paget, 645 N.H., Lawrence 66044, attn: Poet’s Showcase. Teen writers should submit their work to the 18 & Under page at teens@ljworld.com.