As a longtime student and aficionado of both poetry and percussive dance, Ryan Casey presents ways in which poetry--both written and spoken word--can be used in a dance class to develop rhythmic proficiency in percussive dancers of varying ages and skill levels, and explains why he believes this practice is accessible and educational. Although the article focuses on how the use of poetry pertains specifically to tap dance, Casey's area of expertise, he believes the same ideas can easily be extrapolated and adapted for other percussive forms, such as flamenco, classical Indian dance, and clogging, as well as rhythm-based genres like hip-hop and jazz.