(The picture is a combination of 3 photos
along with some line drawing, all
manipulated in Photoshop.)

The Music Helps Her Forget

She is always there for the first set.
She has no partner but takes the floor.
She turns and twirls into a world of her own
where she is not alone, and her children
play and laugh and dance with her.

She prances and pauses,
pirouettes precariously near the trumpeter
who is blowing blue as if he knew
what she'd been through.

She gyrates and pulsates,
lets the music take her to a place
where accidents of time and space
do not erase families in an instant.

--Elaine Parker Akin