Bandstand by Linda Laderman

Bandstand

I loved the after-school quiet in our apartment. No one to tell
me what to do or watch. I’d find my mother’s Camels, light up
and turn on American Bandstand. Dick Clark was my touchstone.
There, in black and white, I pictured my curly brown hair straight
and blonde, my body, thin and lithe, like the girls called regulars.
I coveted their sweaters, some with bedazzled Peter Pan collars,
their shirts trimly tucked inside their pleated plaid skirts. I had power
when Bandstand was on. I’d dance the Pony or the Twist, and dream
the boy with the Elvis hair picked me to join him on the dance floor.
One afternoon Dion was on the show. He sang his hit, Run Around Sue.
I spread my arms, danced and spun. It was just me, Dick, and Dion.
In that minute, I was a skinny rich girl from Philly, a Bandstand regular,
living my life as if I had all the time in the world to figure it out.

*

Linda Laderman is a Michigan poet and writer. A former college instructor and journalist, her poetry has appeared in, or is forthcoming from, numerous literary journals, including Rats Ass Review, SWWIM, ONE ART, Action-Spectacle, Scapegoat Review, Rust & Moth, The Jewish Writing Project, Rise Up Review, Adanna Literary Journal, and MER. She is a past recipient of Harbor Review’s Jewish Women’s Prize, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her micro-chapbook, What I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know, can be found online here. Find her at lindaladerman.com.