Alyss Dye
Van Gogh's Shoes
All the sins of Paris are in these shoes,
glittering darkly like lumps of coal on a path.
They have been mined.
They have come through the ages
moulded to one man's feet.
They have clattered jauntily down wooden staircases
and waltzed and flicked up sparks on icy pavements.
They have laboured in mud and been buried
in wine-smelling sawdust in roadside bars.
They have been softened by rain
and baked hard in the sun.
They have proudly completed wedding outfits
and worn blisters onto aching feet.
They have discreetly witnessed the conception of children
and have mourned side by side at funerals.
Now they are Sunday resting,
one jocular boot gaping wide and
fixing us with a gimlet eyehole,
thin wormy laces straggling like whiskers
down a chubby cheek.
The other turned over to reveal a double row of nails
like crocodile's teeth in a shiny mouth.
Workers and dancers,
two small histories,
fossils of a life.
glittering darkly like lumps of coal on a path.
They have been mined.
They have come through the ages
moulded to one man's feet.
They have clattered jauntily down wooden staircases
and waltzed and flicked up sparks on icy pavements.
They have laboured in mud and been buried
in wine-smelling sawdust in roadside bars.
They have been softened by rain
and baked hard in the sun.
They have proudly completed wedding outfits
and worn blisters onto aching feet.
They have discreetly witnessed the conception of children
and have mourned side by side at funerals.
Now they are Sunday resting,
one jocular boot gaping wide and
fixing us with a gimlet eyehole,
thin wormy laces straggling like whiskers
down a chubby cheek.
The other turned over to reveal a double row of nails
like crocodile's teeth in a shiny mouth.
Workers and dancers,
two small histories,
fossils of a life.
Page(s) 35
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