Dancing with a Scorpion by Sharon Waller Knutson

Me barefoot, he in red boots,
we two step, tap dance and shuffle
to the beat of my drumming heart
when we meet in the darkness,

the glowing night light
guiding us as we glide
across the tile floor. Quick
Quick Slow Slow Shuffle Tap.

We repeat the steps, mindful
of the sting and pain if one
of us steps on the other’s toes,
until he skitters away, leaving

me with the same confused look
as the cowboy with the big boots
who watched my bare feet walk
away before the music stopped.



Sharon Waller Knutson, a retired journalist, writes poetry from her Arizona desert home. Her work has appeared in The Orange Room Review, Literary Mama, Verse-Virtual, Wild Goose Poetry Review and Your Daily Poem. She is the author of five chapbooks: Dancing with a Scorpion, My Grandmother Smokes Chesterfields, Desert Directions, They Affectionately Call Her a Dinosaur and I Did It Anyway.