shoes on a wire

it used to be cool

to tie the ends of your shoelaces together

and toss them sky high

to get them to land on a power line.

you got bonus points

for putting them there

so they hung evenly;

everyone likes symmetry.

then all the lonely people

who'd drive by in their fancy cars

or walk home from their fancy schools

would be forced to notice

the handiwork of some punk kid

who had nothing better to do

than waste a perfectly good pair of sneakers

by attaching them to a high wire

and watching them hang there

swaying with each new breeze

day after day.

the real trick

though

was getting those wayward shoes

down from said wire,

a crafty larceny indeed.

once sacrificed

there was no guarantee

those suckers would ever return to earth

for reclaim,

but you knew that going in.

you didn't want to wear them again;

that wasn't even the point --

it was just to be able to say

you'd done it

properly,

and also

so they didn't become prey to a storm

and get lost in the universe somewhere.

no one wants to wake up

to a pair of forsaken shoes,

sodden and overrun with stench,

on their lawn.

then you'll be that kid

whose shoes were found four streets over

from their original hanging place

and then it's not so cool anymore

because

they're in a stranger's trash can

where their legacy dies

instead of being heralded on a wire

in high fashion.

like anything in this world

it was only cool to throw your shoes on a wire

if you did it right

and you didn't get caught.

05.2010