Kaleidoscope

Poem 3! My brain is about to implode. Write about something that happened in your childhood, in 12 -15 lines. In 1968 Hornchurch held a country dancing festival,  where dozens of schools all got together on one afternoon to dance en masse. We rehearsed for weeks,  and I still remember it with great fondness.  

On a wide expanse of tarmac, an excitable mass of eleven year olds

In tidy groups of eight, rigged out in a Londoners' idea of country dress -

Homemade dirndl skirts, gypsy blouses, kerchiefs round necks and trouser legs -

Wait, poised for a crackling accordian to blare from rigged up speakers.

We stand to attention, bow to our partners, perform the well-rehearsed steps

Drummed into us over a term of PE lessons. Facing these mysterious boys

We grip their sweaty, still unfamiliar hands, to circle left, circle right, 

Promenade, dosey doh, form circles, squares, dance under archways of arms,

Peeling off to meet up again with relieved, side-eyed smiles. 

All dances danced, we bow, applaud ourselves and other schools,

To form a final formation, walking back to our own school

In an exhausted, chattering crocodile; our last chance to hold those clammy hands.

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