Alarmingly Fearless

The center ring is my home.

My dance always draws a crowd.

Dancing in darkness is my specialty,

and it’s getting darker now.

Laugh!

I’m funny.

Laugh. Remember

how good it sounds?

Laugh, look into my mirror,

which no distortion can mar.

It’s alarming, I know,

to see how strong glee can be.

Don’t look away now!

Be fearless. Understand

you are powerful in your joy.

Fashion a sword and shield

from laughter in the dark.

Protect the one in the mirror’s reflection.

Their joy is needed.

Song Choice: Between a Laugh and a Tear by John Mellencamp

This poem marks a first in that I hit all three suggested prompts for the Toads's Play It Again Toads. The first one was Word Count With Mama Zen (Is Your Life a Circus/ 90 words or less). The second was the Way of Tea (base a poem on a poem by famous tea master Sen Rikyu. I chose, "See with your eyes! Listen with your ears! And if you wish to smell the fragrance, press for an explanation of every unresolved matter until your understanding is complete."). The third was Kerry's Word Challenge, Gods In Nature (write from the point of view of an old god). I took a little poetic license with the original assignment as written, and went with a different pantheon from the ones suggested. I chose Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto (sometimes known simply as Uzume) from Japanese Shinto lore. She was the goddess who got Amaterasu (the sun goddess) to come out of the cave in which she was hiding by performing a bawdy dance. One of her epithets was Alarming Heavenly Female.