the prompt is shoes

and this is why i don't write well for prompts
because i all i can think of is i don't like wearing them
i grew up in florida in the sixties where shoes were
optional, except church, school and seven eleven.
even now i freak out my illinois born honey
going barefoot about the house his feet
feel all the grit but to me, it's just peach fuzz.
and why search for shoes
  just to go outside to
empty the trash? if it rains,
 and it rains here a lot
i'll take my wet feet over  wet shoes
and socks anyday.
a paper towel and feet  are a/c ready/.
 god i hate bathrooms with air dry.
in florida, flip flops-though not officially shoes-
will   apparently do
a lot of people agree because they're
 now approved footwear for  highschoolers
it's funny i feel this way and yet bad
mouth my daughter because until
this past fall, she had not bought
her daughter a single pair askin me
what size  to get when she finally
got a job so she could get her
more than flip flops and bare feet
which is not much less than what i
wore growing up and yeah  i had a case
of ringworm or two and cut the fuck
outta my toe one time playing in
flooded gutters in the rain and just cuz
  i don't like em don't mean
i don't own a pair or two but i still wear
boots- not official shoes- when it gets
cold, because i get claustrophobia
after a few hours my feet are smothered
burning, begging to be released
  that's when i know my feet were bound
  in a former chinese life
the young  bones folded in half, wrapped
in cloth strips molded for a shoe the hieght
of fashion, attention called to rounded
instep, the mincing, wincing gait
as i cross the floor with a pot of tea

so you can keep the stillettos and the
stripper shoes for the short girls who need
the extra inches, i made sure this time around
i didn't have to put my feet into trauma
though that's the only drama i've avoided thus far.
liv le nar