A stray shoe along a road, an intersection
Orphaned by some traumatic event
Someone’s sandal, boot, stiletto, athletic footwear
Never a pair of shoes
Just one
Missing its sole mate
Always that lone shoe
Because if it were two
Someone would surely take them
But the one left behind
Like the sad lover who stayed
While his/her heart went away
Bears witness
They were there
Together in that moment
Before fate separated them
Perhaps forever
It’s only for the poets and storytellers
To ponder the tragic tale
Unlike bad human relationships
Shoes are paired up for a reason
No one ever tells you, I’m so glad you kicked that left shoe to the curb. She was just bringing you down. Or I’m so happy you’re no longer with that right shoe. He was an asshole and you can do so much better.
Did some modern-day Cinderella flee
Praying that one day her prince would find
That shoe and save her from dire circumstances?
Or was it that old woman
Who finally tired of living
With all those kids
In the cramped conditions of that shoe?
Or did someone throw that shoe at another
As an insult
Like that reporter did to Dubya?
Is the half shod person
Walking around in circles
Like someone in a rowboat with one oar
Looking for that missing shoe?
Every stray shoe has a rhyme or reason
Every stray shoe was part of the shuffle
Every stray shoe helped create
The characteristic rhythm of the bearer’s gait
If the shoe’s owner died with the remaining shoe on
People who find the body
Will inevitably think
Where’s the other shoe?
And if all the storytelling speculators
From both sides of the separated shoes
Got together
Would their stories match jigsaw style
Or be entangled like something in
A craft box?