Where Feet Are Superfluous

I searched everywhere for the perfect escape
now that the giant lobsters were closing in

I disguised myself briefly as a piece of kelp
and they scuttled by with red claws waving
eye-feelers waggling

I changed my profession and became a rookie shoe salesman
just like my first High School job in downtown Oakland

Zebras were the hardest to shoe
especially if they stood in front of zigzag black & white drapery

Shoes are the underclass of the world
they serve and are thrown out when worn out

Laceable or laceless they look forward wherever we go
and though they might be tempted they never
treat us like heels

They toe the line and are always in step
and if they have tongues they keep them to themselves

The more we trod on them the more soft-hearted
they become

If they can fit our feet why can’t we fit the
world as snugly?

Some places people go shoeless and they are
brave and casual and won’t get pinched
where they stand

They feel the earth’s energies coming up through their feet
direct and it makes them go lightly

Angels don’t wear shoes unless perhaps they’re
impersonating someone in more formal attire

They go on their rounds in various stages of elevation
and the ground is really beneath them
God doesn’t need shoes though one of His
most devoted servants at the time of Moses
used to proclaim endearments by suggesting
he would dust them and care for them
especially well

I thought of disguising myself as a pair of shoes
and walking away from the whole thing
leave the world behind while still in it

But I must have not wanted it enough for
like Galileo I walk on the earth with gravity

glad to God I still put one foot in front of the other
till the day of my death when shoeless I’ll go
also gladly to where even feet are superfluous

1/25/2005