An Ode to Shoes

[model_mom]

How Do I Live Without Shoes
Lyrics by Brian Stokes
(To the tune of Leanne Rymes' "How do I Live Without You")
My feet hurt, if I go outside without shoes
That's why I need shoes in my life
But it's not all just comfort
Oh I...need them to match with all my clothes
and fill my closets, I suppose

These shoes on my feet
Baby I've got forty-two pairs of them...
Or is it three?

So tell me now
How do I live without shoes?
I want to know
Can't go outside without shoes
I could stub my toes
How will i ever...ever survive...?
Oh how will I live

How will I .. ever get to wear all my shoes?
There are way too many to choose
Too bad I don't have more feet
Oh my-y...shoes come in every color, every style
every shape and every size...

If you were to layy
Every single shoe of mine side-by-side
They'd stretch to Bombayyy

So tell me how
How do I live without shoes?
I can't let them go
When I feel bad I buy shoes
I just can't say no
High heels and sandals keep me alive...
Oh how do I live...

 

[model_mom]

Ode to My Shoes
(After Neruda, who left us his socks) The poet alone
is writing an ode
to her shoes--
her shoes which
only she can fill,
her shoes of purple suede and green leather
the color of palm fronds,
her diamond-studded boots,
her feathered cowboy boots,
her seven-league epic poetry boots,
her little silver haiku boots,
with tiny heels that twinkle,
her first-person platform boots
and her backless glass slippers
modelled after Cinderella's
(one lost, at midnight,
because of a running man),
her huntress boots of India-rubber,
her lover's boots joined at the ankle
like leg irons,
her pink baby booties bronzed
for posterity,
her daughter's burning Reeboks,
her lover's laceless sneakers
left in the guest room closet
for her to kiss
year after year
after year.
Darling shoes,
beloved feet
ten toes to walk me
toward my true love,
f*ck-me pumps to fuel his passion
stiletto heels to stab him
if he strays.
Shoes tell you everything.
Shoes speak my language.
Their tap tap tap on the airport runway
tells me the story
of a lovely, lonely woman flying after love--
That old, old story
in a new pair
of shoes.
© Erica Mann Jong