The Tiny Tap Dancer

she tickety-tacked
for about a decade
leotards, a second skin

on a red brick hearth
syncopated variety show
tickety-tack tickety-tack

the opening act
homegrown vaudeville
while brother plays trumpet

green tutu with sequins
stage makeup
covers the jitters

ribbon laces
patent leather hues
shiny fever dreams

on the San Onofre shore
she never stops dancing
tickety-tack tickety-tack

NaPoWriMo Prompt: Today, we’d like to challenge you to write your own poem in which you recount a childhood memory. Try to incorporate a sense of how that experience indicated to you, even then, something about the person you’d grow up to be.

Hi there! Thank you for stopping by and reading my second poem of NaPoWriMo 2026. I hope it brought back some sweet childhood memories for you. It was fun to write about some of what were my favorite things and still are 50 years later especially dance and the beach. I could almost feel the sand melt between my toes again as the tide rolled in and out. San Onofre will always have a special place in my heart, fun camping memories, listening to the beach boys, roasting marshmallows, making sandcastles and my brothers loved all of it, even grunion runs which I was too young to go down from the cliffs at night to see them. There were many times after playing all day in the sun and surf, I was too tired to walk home so I just climbed on while my big brother carried my exhausted little body on his shoulders while carrying his surfboard, too. Good times, good times. Although I don’t live near the beach anymore, I still love to dance, just like my grandma. I come from a long line of women with rhythm that stays long after the song has passed. It’s like smiling…it does something to our brains that makes us happier, so when you get the chance, just dance. Is there something you remember that gave you joy in childhood and made you who you are today? Sometimes when I’m dancing, I close my eyes and given in to complete surrender. What a gift. I’ll be back tomorrow for Day 3 of NaPoWrimo. Take care & talk soon.