Ode to Tina Turner’s Sole
If I could pick one shoe
any shoe in the world I could be
I’d pick the black shiny pump
holding Tina Turner’s leg
A sturdy one that might start off
slow to a song, a mild tap, tap, tap
A slithering glide across a stage
A shoe holding golden toes
And heart attack sculpted legs
Moving as fast as those
hot bones could go
A shoe that kicks doors
Stomping quick under rolling hips
Dancing as if life depended on it
Dancing like I ain’t got no sense
Dancing like love or any other mother
Had nothing to do with it
Stirring up kneecaps
Stirring up fuel under a sparkling dress
Turning the world into a wet sloppy mess
Running across freeways
Rolling across rivers
Leaping with just a dollar to our name
Smiling at red lights daring us to stop.
If I could pick one pair. Only one.
I’d pick the one holding Tina’s legs
Strong, ready to bow, jump or kick.
Dancing our heart out, no matter what.
© 2023 Pam Ward
What's Love?
(i.m. Tina Turner 1939 - 2023)
Not escaping from a motel room
with thirty-six cents and a luggage
of injuries, soul exhausted.
It starts with a toe tap, a beat,
waiting to build the courage
to fall again, to soar again.
A melody you desire to sense
vibrating throat-deep, teasing
a mouth open, vocal cords
warmed, sonorously filling
a studio, a stadium, hearts.
© 2023 Emma Lee
Tina Talk to Me
Now that she’s left us
For a higher love,
I look upward and ask her:
Tina, give us your strength.
Tina, put in a good word for us.
Tina, teach us how to fight.
Tina, give us your bravery.
Did you see before you left? We’re facing
Some of the worst dunderheads
Trying to stifle us. Passing laws
And banning books. Reaching out
To control our bodies.
Tina, please give us
Your energy. Your hope.
And Tina calls down
Girl, by yourself, you learn to fight.
Don’t tell me you can’t.
I had 35 cents and a wrap around my head
And I ran away.
Sometimes you just gotta go.
Your life is not the things you own.
You own your life
And you save that first.
© 2023 Lynne Bronstein
