Guilty Pleasure

Steeped in the Brethren religious tradition, Jeanette Hardage’s family had a decidedly conservative approach to the American cultural practices around them. One of my favorite poems from her Faith and Other Matters anthology is one in which she rebels just a bit against her church strictures. At a writer’s conference in the early 2000s, where she shared some of her poetry for critical review, one of the reviewers had high praise for the poem found below, which provides a clear touch of humanity and personal insight.

I recall that as a girl, my own repeated requests to her for ballet lessons fell on deaf ears, because “we don’t do that.” If only I had known her secret weakness: she knew the joy of dance!

The No-No Dance

“Let’s dance,” Daddy said
when the radio poured out Strauss.

He waltzed me round the living room—
a daughter-and-Daddy fun thing.

The don’t-do-it church would not be pleased.
“Don’t tell Mother,” Daddy said.

Mother’s frown might be worse than God’s
so I kept the secret.

It was a good dance.