But the Shoe Remains
On fat streets.
On skinny streets.
On dirt roads.
On gravel roads
On two lane highways.
On four lane freeways.
Abandoned shoes are everywhere.
They are usually just lying there.
On the edges of travel.
Usually just one shoe.
I have seen wingtip shoes with no executive attached.
Engineer boots with no biker.
Cowboy boots with no cowboy.
Sneakers with no athlete.
All kinds of shoes with nobody in them.
Almost always old and dirty,
with the toes curled up from use.
I know that you have seen them, too.
Everybody sees them.
Have you ever looked inside an old abandoned shoe?
I do not have the courage to do it.
I am afraid that I will see
the bloody top of an ankle or foot.
There are lots of good reasons
that a shoe might be alone.
It got thrown away.
It was accidentally dropped there.
There could be lots of good reasons.
There could be lots of bad reasons
that a shoe might be alone.
There was an accident and the clean-up crew left it behind.
Someone had their foot chopped off with the shoe still on and then the shoe was thrown from the car.
There could be lots of bad reasons.
The abandoned shoes that most concern me,
are the ones by the railroad tracks.
There is always the possibility that someone was walking by the tracks and fell or was pushed under a moving train and their foot was severed.
I never look inside.
But the shoe remains.
On skinny streets.
On dirt roads.
On gravel roads
On two lane highways.
On four lane freeways.
Abandoned shoes are everywhere.
They are usually just lying there.
On the edges of travel.
Usually just one shoe.
I have seen wingtip shoes with no executive attached.
Engineer boots with no biker.
Cowboy boots with no cowboy.
Sneakers with no athlete.
All kinds of shoes with nobody in them.
Almost always old and dirty,
with the toes curled up from use.
I know that you have seen them, too.
Everybody sees them.
Have you ever looked inside an old abandoned shoe?
I do not have the courage to do it.
I am afraid that I will see
the bloody top of an ankle or foot.
There are lots of good reasons
that a shoe might be alone.
It got thrown away.
It was accidentally dropped there.
There could be lots of good reasons.
There could be lots of bad reasons
that a shoe might be alone.
There was an accident and the clean-up crew left it behind.
Someone had their foot chopped off with the shoe still on and then the shoe was thrown from the car.
There could be lots of bad reasons.
The abandoned shoes that most concern me,
are the ones by the railroad tracks.
There is always the possibility that someone was walking by the tracks and fell or was pushed under a moving train and their foot was severed.
I never look inside.
But the shoe remains.
posted by Fred Garber at 7:07 AM
9 Comments:
How do you explain the abandoned socks? Sometimes I think all this forsaken footwear indicates a kind of cosmic background level of revelation, miniature versions of Moses' on Mt. Sinai, where suddenly the otherwise humdrum, even ugly roadside becomes too holy for anything but bare feet.
I have seen the socks. That is an entirely different manner and much more esoteric. It should only be discussed through private channels of communication. I know you will understand. But in a general sense all of this foresaken footwear really does indicate the background level of revelation that you spoke of in your post. Signs and portents everywhere!
I read this about a week ago, and have been noticing shoes ever since.
Just a small detail of life...but they are everywhere.
this is truly the stuff of life...usually the shoes are mateless, but remember the pair of chuck taylors that hung tied together from a telephone wire over west seventh street for what seemed like years?
I remember the shoes on the wire. Do you recall where exactly they were? Was it near Ly's Garden?
yeah...it was on the same block as ly's garden!
Gloves as well here - people often pick them up and put them on the spikes on iron fences. We get shoes too of course.
Juliet....I have seen the gloves...but will now start really SEEING them...
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