LL Wohlwend

That Old Fairytale

At 37, I’m in my first ballet class. I’m wearing socks, jogging pants, and a sweatshirt while eying a classmate dressed in fluttery pink. No one is more surprised I’m here than me. I am not the ballet type, I tell myself. Not slim, nor remotely flexible, I shun pink and never wear frilly things.

I consider leaving, apologizing for my mistake. My father’s death, the loss of a friend, the stale comfort of a late-night drink—I went looking for a fairy godmother and signed up for a ballet class instead.

By the time the instructor stands at the front of the room, I’m wondering why Cinderella wanted to go to the ball in the first place. Dressing up is tedious. The mice are bad chauffeurs. Who cares if you get to dance with a prince?

But you know how the story goes. Everything always changes when the music begins.

at the gong
the glass slipper
turns pink

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About the Author

LL Wohlwend is a writer living in northern Wisconsin. Her poems have appeared in Modern Haiku, Haibun Today, Shamrock, and contemporary haibun online.

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