Bare soles

a Contessa went barefoot once*
in a touch of inverted snobbery
Hollywood's requisite razzle-dazzle

at times we have all downed our shoes
there in the sand to run against the grains
or discarded killer heels after the first dance

barefoot conjures carefree
more often though it is just beggardom
hardening the soles

soldiers strip the dead for boots
going hell for leather on their long march
hungry enough to eat the hide

*1954 film”The Barefoot Contessa” 

For this week’s Poetics, Kim has given us a A closet full of shoes

9 thoughts on “Bare soles

  1. I remember that film, Ava Gardner and Humphrey Bogart – a classic. My favourite lines have to be:
    ‘barefoot conjures carefree
    more often though it is just beggardom
    hardening the soles’.

    1. not the best of their film roles but this light-footed start makes for the contrast – great prompt by the way Kim

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