The Dirigible Balloon
Poetry for Children

A Recipe for Dancing

Take two arms, let them fly and swing
Take two legs, let them twist and spin
Whirl them round in a swirling churn,
Flick them one way,
then do a sudden turn.

Take some fingers, open them wide
Take some toes, make them slip and slide
Take a belly, let it jiggle
Take some hips, let them wiggle
Take a bottom and stick it out
Take some shoulders, shake them all about.

Get your body to a roiling, boiling heat.
Whip things up
with fast, whirring feet.

Hum
and sing
do a loud, low whoop!

Flip,
flap,
swing,
sway
in a great big dancing
soup.

About the Writer


Barbara Bleiman

Barbara is an ex-English teacher and writer of adult and YA fiction, with two novels published and a recent collection of short stories for adults, Kremlinology of Kisses. Barbara has an anthology of short stories for secondary school students coming out in the autumn via the English and Media Centre where she works.