Feet
Everything looks smaller from above
As soap suds dance around my toes towards the plug
That’s what I’m thinking
And maybe the hair on my big toe that I was totally unaware of
means I’m a man
I used to pretend they were hands
that big toe was opposable as I tried to pick up the remote control to turn the telly over from Supergran
Thinking about it now it seemed like I was bare foot pretty much all the time.
With my eyes closed I could tell where I was by what I could feel with my feet
The cold tiles of the hall were the shark-infested waters and the start of the living room carpet marked the beginning of land
there were thirteen stairs in our house by day but one disappeared at night
Thanks to my Fantastic Facts annual I know that the average person walks 10,000 steps in a day give or take the days when you make it to the end of your street and realise you forgot your keys
Which means that by the time we die we’ve taken enough steps to walk around the world four times
Which you couldn’t really do because of the sea
Getting dressed now I notice I have an order to how I do it and it’s my feet that I leave til last
Pants then jeans then T-shirt and only then socks
I think back to how we had to take our shoes off for assembly in the gym and somehow it always fell on the one day I had a sock with a hole in and the fear of somebody seeing and me being that kid with the holey socks til the fifth year
I’d roll the cotton over my toes so the hole stayed underneath and shuffle to my seat
Thanks to beat street and wild style it was decided that the reason feet were invented was for dancing and displaying trainers
And if you had bad trainers you were famous for all the wrong reasons
I really believed that the right trainers made me faster. That I had to have them. But the umpteen detailed explanations and numerous ensuing tantrums didn’t convince my mom.
There’s nothing wrong with the ones you’ve got on are words that still feel like a balloon deflating.
When you met someone the first thing you looked at was their feet. Like two pieces of personality at the end of their legs.
These days I’m more appreciation than need. But it’s still exciting to smell the silica gel in a new box.
As I leave the house. I remember sitting in dad’s footprint in the snow.
Driving the hole like a car as he shovelled coal in a bucket.
Standing with him on the terraces weaving between a sea of screaming strangers feet to get nearer to my heroes.
Someone put your foot on it.
The feet of these twenty two men meaning the difference between a grey week at work or the belief in dreams.
I think of running. Not running for the bus or to catch that train
running just to run.
It always seemed like the easiest way to get between places.
It was so easy it was funny
Go to the shop for me Steven. No
I’ll time you. Ok give me the money.
I pass an old man in the street. The pace of his steps means I leave him behind.
One day that’ll happen to mine and I’ll find myself remembering the times when I could dance up a sweat or get from here to there without thinking.
So I slow down.
I’m already late for work so a few minutes more won’t hurt
Copyright 2009 Polarbear
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