[1922 cast of sculpture by Edgar Degas*]

The Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen

When I swore no man would have me, the women laughed until I swore again. We all say the same, mon petit rat. You wait. Your mother will be wanting rent. Your little sister will get sick. Then what will you do?

port de bras
smudge of greasepaint
still gripping the barre

figures it out, fast

No one was surprised when I followed the artist home. At every class, he scratches us into canvas. Sometimes I spot his stare from the audience with the other abonnés. They say he alone never touches the girls, but how can that be true when I already feel him?

hot breath ...
a snag in my tights
stepping center stage

like the sculptor who takes

oh, the urge to stretch, he demands such stillness I hardly dare to breathe. He’s taking his time, I see, have to meet Antoinette, mustn’t be late Madame was angry this morning but it wasn’t my fault, look at him displeased I’m moving, well, what does he expect? I can no longer tell when I am posing and when I am not my arms disappear from my shoulders, my legs snap like strings, here I turn, there I jump, come little Marie, come, come.

cold coins
air in the belly
twirling my skirts

her form

Shoulders down, chin forward, hands behind the back: a stance in fourth position. When the Little Dancer is revealed, men call her a monkey. They think her a whore. They claim she is marked by the promise of every vice. But those fools don’t know that a woman is a mirror, reflecting what men believe. I’ll tell you what I see: a little girl who knows her worth.

curtain call
the audience rising
to their feet

Poet’s Notes:

*Link to image of the sculpture:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Dancer_of_Fourteen_Years#/media/File:The_Little_Fourteen-Year-Old_Dancer_MET_DP-14939-005.jpg

1. In the late 1800s, Paris ballet dancers were expected to provide sexual favors to wealthy patrons. They were called opera rats.

2. Marie Geneviève van Goethem, the subject of Edgar Degas’ famous ballet sculpture, was accepted into the dance school of the Paris opera in 1878. Her sister Antoinette also danced in the school. Degas both painted and sculpted Marie until she was dismissed from the opera in 1882 for being late to rehearsals.

[Sources (links retrieved on 22 December 2023):]

“The True Story of the Little Ballerina Who Influenced Degas’ Little Dancer” by Amy Henderson in Smithsonian Magazine (4 November 2014):
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/true-story-little-ballerina-who-influenced-degas-little-dancer-180953201/

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_van_Goethem#cite_note-trachtman-5

Publisher’s Note:

1. Little Dancer Aged 14 (1878-1881, mixed-media sculpture: pigmented beeswax, clay, metal armature, rope, paintbrushes, human hair, silk and linen ribbon, cotton faille bodice, cotton and silk tutu, linen slippers, on wooden base) resides in the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (USA).

Additional images at the NGA (link retrieved on 22 December 2023):
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.110292.html

LL Wohlwend

is a writer living in northern Wisconsin. Her poems have appeared in Modern Haiku, Haibun Today, Shamrock, and Contemporary Haibun Online.