Shoe Leather

[Sharra]

I collected odd shoes, paid pennies
at jumble sales, gathered them
from roadsides, the high-tide line.
Old boots, sandals, trainers, lace-ups,
pumps, stilettos, all single.
I laid them side by side
by size, from baby’s knitted bootie
to workman’s size eleven. Saw them scuffed,
empty, felt naked feet
tiptoe around me.

I reread the recipe, reclassified
by material, fraying fabric
split plastic, shrivelled leather
seasoned with sea salt. I scissored
the animal skin, discarded
rubber and metal. I poured
a gallon of water, stirred
sugar, sprinkled yeast. Then dropped
one shoe after the other, like footsteps
splashing into the bucket,
and left them to ferment.

[ray miller]

Reminds me of that Charlie Chaplin film where he eats a shoe! The obvious question is why you'd collect all these shoes and then prepare to ...what?...eat them? It may be you're trying to describe a kind of absorption of other people's journeys or perhaps it's just a joke. I guess if I can't tell then it ain't working - for me!

[bodkin]

I'm similar I'm afraid, I like what you are doing, but I don't know why...

HTH

Ian

[Ros]

I too am rather puzzled at what you are going to do with a bucket full of fermented shoes. I like the idea though, and the way you sort them and then re-sort.

[Callum C]

I do quite like this, but it confuses me a bit. I think it's because it starts so definitely that it fools me into expecting concrete at the end. The first verse gathers a kind of momentum that seems to disperse throughout the second, the former states some intention the latter can't deliver. I'm not sure what the point of it all is! Not that there has to be one, of course, just that the opening sets up as if there will be.

[Sharra]

It came from reading somewhere that you can make wine from old shoes. I was just imagining what that process would be like. I guess I need to male it clearer that that's what's happening. Do you think changing the title to 'Wine Making' would do it? or would that still be too confusing?
Thanks
Sharra
xx

[BenJohnson]

O Sharra you can post the last verse now Like everyone else I am mystified by what is going on, I think I'll decline any invites out to dinner with you though.

As Callum said the whole poem feels very concrete, strong images and a sense that we are being lead somewhere, but where...?

[Ros]

I think you might need a bit more than the title... how about a verse about decanting your new vintage, and its taste?

[David]

Oi, I needed that explanation, Sharra. I think that with all the "I did this" and "I did that", it comes over as a little prosy at the moment. Could you recast it actually as a recipe? Lots of scope for terse and enigmatic instructions there.

Cheers

David

[Sharra]

Thanks for the comments guys, back to the drawing board I think with this one
Sharra
x

[BenJohnson]

I quite like David's idea, I could see that working quite nicely

1. Take twenty assorted leather shoes

I take twenty assorted shoes,
sort the leather from the fake leather
and need ten more. I stuff the trainers
all smells of old foot odour back in the bag
and select a pair of brown brogues
a bargain at one pound fifty.

2. Separate uppers from the soles

I slice.. etc

I'm going to stay away from this topic I can sense a shoe fetish growing in me

[Elphin]

Sharra

I think you have an original theme here and worth persevering this. I didnt get the wine but I picked up vibes of lost souls (or was that soles??) and I formed a picture of Macbeths witches - toil and trouble and all that.

Worth persevering with - a play on water into wine perhaps.

elph