2000/2ndqtr/tennies

I always think of white tennies
in spring,
the ones I wore board white
and not yet washed.
Keds were always best,
counterfeits just wouldn’t do.
Their rubber soles made your feet
too hot,
but we endured it without complaint.
Toes pebbled and pink at the end
of the day,
because socks weren’t cool.
I hate to go without socks now
and noticed yesterday
the sturdy shoes I wear,
not unlike the ones
my mother subscribed to,
laced up old-woman shoes
she wore in middle-age,
girlish anklets accentuating
her tree trunk legs.

4/5/00