If Peace Was A Dancer

By M. L. Lyons

PROMPT — If only ...

Like most fine dancers,

Peace enjoys any occasion to rise

to her feet and sway our heartbeats

into a crescent of a smile.

She is the moment when our

shadows are cast, but left aside.

Peace loves the dulcet tones and

only sidesteps the goose footed,

the overly rigid, but laughs with

the flat-footed, the eager, the shy

who don’t know how to move, but

want to dance desperately anyway.

She knows how many wait on the

sidelines for her and she would dance

with all of us if we only saw that

our feet already knew how.

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M. L. Lyons is a writer, poet and editor residing in the Pacific Northwest. She co-edited Raising Lilly Ledbetter: Women Poets Occupy the Workspace with Carolyne Wright and Eugenia Toledo and her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart. Her poetry collection, Songs from the Multiverse was published in May, 2025 from Finishing Line Press.