Battered soles
Bitten off nails claw against the wall, soaked and stabbing my fingers, the heat of friction
snaking into swollen veins that descend into beat up rock climbing shoes, soles ratted
out, frayed strings dancing around ankles with the smallest movement.
Fingers sink through the concrete wall,
fingertips searching for a surface to cling onto,
yet feet slip off the ledge, the soles of shoes yank off,
and water drowns the crevices between toes.
The rain beats down harder, and squeezing shoulder blades and stick fabric onto skin and hair.
Hands still wave around, grasping for any sense of hope, any branch on the wall that will lend its hold.
Yet, legs still kick around, as if they are blind, as if their feet have a sticky residue to grasp onto something.
If a spider-monkey were here with their hands and legs working as one, there may still be a chance of survival,
yet there is none.
This piece was inspired by the feeling of desperation. I wrote this poem as an assignment, and with the help of Ms. Rigdon and my peers, I was able to turn my originally mediocre poem into something I was proud of. I was also inspired by Jimmy Butler in the 2023, just watching his performance gave me the same sense of writing this poem.
The Reeling
I initially choreographed this piece for the Senior Solo Dance Concert, so the theme of my piece obviously goes along with the theme of growing into yourself as a person and looking ahead to your future as an adult. I'm deciding to submit this piece now, though, because I recently entered this solo into the National Society of Arts and Letters dance competition, for which I won 2nd place. This piece has become so much more to me than a choreography assignment or a competition number; it is a love letter to my past and how it (in good ways and in bad ways) has shaped me into the person I am today.
Mabruk Alam ‘27
Peyton Ford ‘27
