Poem: “My Shoes and I Love You”

black shoes,

under canopy of four

glowing bare feet:

i’m sorry if i offended you.

my black shoes

left alone,

my safety,

my home!

when will i take

your comfort

again?

my black shoes

still in her bedroom.

i bet you

felt history beneath you.

Other Boys’ Shoes

in your spot,

their ghosts in your bed,

scratching my back.

we forgot

all about you, my shoes,

you pair of scorned sweethearts,

and swayed to ten hours

of Soviet music-

marches

in 4/4-

alongside an oscillating fan

that got bored of us

and turned away.

you sat there unworn, tapped

your heel, checked your

watch- my shoes, my old friend, my apologies.

she promised

homework,

but we could never commit

to something so serious,

so Time-Consuming.

how could i think

about you, waiting,

waiting to trap me, waiting to tie me down

with your frayed afraid snake laces?

i’m tired of things like lace and paper

tongues and dry toes. i want the fluid

drip of a weekend spent happily

aimless, empty, untied, temporary.

all you do,

my shoes,

is keep my toes dry.

i have dipped them

now- in the waters of restless, constant, nervous

energy- love and death,

dried them on the trashcan

fire of my future and past,

forgotten all about my shoe-

-and-lace-

-and-tongue

-and-sole-

-fullness-

for one blessed moment.