Courtney LeBlanc
BELLY DANCING AS LOVE POEM
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: The poem reads: Years ago we took a belly-dancing class together which was basically us just laughing at one another as we attempted to mimic our teacher's fluid hips, swinging side to side like liquid sex, laughing when the teacher told me I didn't have enough belly and you didn't have enough butt and we agreed but that didn't stop us from trying, our hips wrapped with gemstone colored scarves, mine green and yours fuchsia, gold bells clinking softly, the perfect accompaniment to our laughter and clunky movements, our hips not so much sashaying as jerking from side to side, each shift of our bodies timed to our raucous laughter and I never danced for a lover, never wore that emerald scarf outside of class, never dared display my not-as-sexy-as-I-imagined moves to another—only you witnessed me, arms above my head, eyes closed as I moved my body to the same music you heard and when I opened my eyes I saw you'd done the same: eyes closed, arms up in abandon and I knew, in that moment, I'd never love anyone as much as I loved you.