Poem 94

A simple switcheroo for a day … the ocean has a big outgoing personality whereas the narrator (me) seems more reserved … both benefit from the day off …

( I like the way it starts and ends with the shoes and has shoehorned in the middle … my favourite image is of the ocean as last (drunk) sailor coming off shore leave … )

Soggy Shoes

I said to this ocean you should walk
a mile in my shoes and it did
while I lay around between the continents
    for a day

later my friends said I'd been much improved
bursting with vigour contagious
as a cold slap
               certain women indicated
    I could wash over them again
any time I liked
                 and they all had shells
in their salty hair

I still can't get the sand out of my bed
or the sad drying crabs in the corners
when you've shoehorned the ocean
into your life you notice
   the changes

I passed him as I came up the beach
going down singing a song drunk and happy
the last sailor coming off leave

I'm left with these ruined shoes
and a memory of what it's like
to sleep
         looking up through green ice