—after Amy Gerstler’s poem “Watch”
For some strange reason I had wanted to have [my father’s] shoes, the shoes he was wearing when he died…and was sad to learn they had been incinerated.They were just a pair of old shoes, untied,
—Amy Gerstler, commenting on “Watch”
Scuffed on the side of the left one
Deeply scarred near the front of the right one.
Both heels swelled in the center as if pregnant
And tapered at the end, out of breath.
They lasted a long time, comfortable,
Brown shoes in need of polish and care,
Their tongues stretched and stubborn, valleys and hills
The plastic tips on the shoelaces still intact,
The holes they went through frayed like stranded hair,
At my father’s death they gave us his watch,
Old, too, and comfortable, with a brown leather band.
My father liked brown, a mature color,
The color of old men, he would say.
I wanted his shoes, but they were no longer available.
I put the watch on the wall of my office
And began looking for the pair he might have worn.
They’re everywhere. Every thrift shop. Every Salvation Army.
On the feet of every man over seventy.
One day I will gather up all of my nerve
And stop one of these old men.
I’ll ask him where he purchased his brown shoes.
I’ll tell him the color goes well with him…
And maybe I’ll buy myself a pair just because.
| Copyright © 2019 by Michael H. Brownstein Michael H. Brownstein’s latest volume of poetry, A Slipknot Into Somewhere Else, was published by Cholla Needles Press in 2018. |
I wonder whether the shoe color of old men varies by geographical region. Or where the poet’s father’s belief arose. With the growing number of revelations from 23andMe about DNA’s determination of this and that, I even have to wonder whether brown shoes might be determined by the DNA of poets and their fathers....But I think my own father had some brown house slippers...in those few short years he had above 70 years. My own shoes have been black these six years going on seven. Thank you, Michael, for this ruminative poem!
ReplyDeleteOh Michael, what a lovely, lovely poem. You've managed to infuse all of life into these shoes. Well done.
ReplyDeleteMichael & Eric, I want you both to know how grateful I am that Moristotle & Co. has two such fine poets as you are, and that you mutually admire and encourage each other. My own admiration and encouragement can't begin to mean as much for either of you as yours does for each other.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is one long, positive affirmation. The reader finds himself nodding, mmm-hmm, yes, just like that, perfect...
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your most kind words.
ReplyDelete