Oh, those blue suede shoes Elvis first rocked us with!
Poetry Prompt: Pick a shoe and put it in a poem, with a little music on the side. Black heels. Brown loafers. Red sneakers. Okay, or those blue suede shoes. Rock us. Sure, you can grab a line from Elvis. Why not.
Want to see a sample shoe poem? This one has a secret: The Need for Shoes.
Thanks to our participants in the Rock Lyrics poetry prompt. Here’s one we enjoyed:
The Day the World Went Away
he fell Into the Void
with 1, 000, 000 other Dead Souls.
Running from Sin in the Echoplex
was no longer The Perfect Drug.
All The Good Soldier could show
for his efforts were Hesitation Marks
and that personal All Time Low
in Discipline and Survivalism.
The Eater of Dreams Came Back Haunted
by the Black Noise of Nine Inch Nails
in his Head Like a Hole. His could have been
the Hand That Feeds each Wish
but when Every Day Is Exactly the Same,
you Burn, he said, and it is the Hurt
that splits your heart In Two, denies each
half its Various Methods of Escape.
Poem based on song titles from the upcoming Nine Inch Nails album, Hesitation Marks…
Photo by pawpaw67. Creative Commons, via Flickr.
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Sometimes we feature your poems in Every Day Poems, with your permission of course. Thanks for writing with us!
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Richard Maxson says
Slipper
Watching your feet traipse the shoreline sand
that forms itself for a moment like a slipper,
disappearing in the ocean’s slow arc following you,
I know what happens next:
the water deepens around us as we walk,
our ankles draped in the last wave’s wet lace,
each step now more a memory
beyond the force of tides
than something we do to make our way
in occult and fleeting shoes
cobbled from a thousand years―you and I
sauntering into the brackish air,
into the crush of shells.
L. L. Barkat says
i especially like “I know what happens next.” It just arrests me. And there is tension, because the truth is that relationships are so complex that we don’t really know what happens next.
Really nice, Richard. 🙂
Maureen Doallas says
Black Furs and Diamonds
She pledged never to live forever
in blue jeans and go-go boots,
hadn’t worn a headband and slit
skirts in ages. She’d traded in
her cheap sunglasses, even taken
off the white kid gloves. From now
on, she’d promised, she was stepping
out in black furs, with diamonds
on the soles of her shoes. Yessir;
when Ruby puts her red dress on,
every sucker in a three-piece knows
it’s time to rock and roll.
_________________________
In order: Forever in Blue Jeans (Neil Diamond), Go-Go Boots (Drive-By Truckers), Headband (B.o.B.), Slit Skirts (Pete Townshend), Kid Gloves (Marmaduke Duke), Black Furs (Judie Tzuke), Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes (Paul Simon), Ruby Puts Her Red Dress On (Joel Crouse), Every Suck in a 3 Piece (Van Halen), Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin).
L. L. Barkat says
i love this, Maureen! All the images… the jeans and go-go boots, kid gloves, the black furs.
what it would be to walk on diamonds, huh? (I like to think of my back lawn in morning dew as diamonds I get to touch with my soles 🙂 )
Maureen Doallas says
I realize I left out the credit for “Cheap Sunglasses”. That one’s from ZZ Top.
And that Van Halen title should read “Every Sucker in a 3 Piece”.
davis says
shoes
the pink suede
unlaced shoes
pulled gently off
fell to the bare wood floor
rested there unmoved
she kicked-back
with a long sigh
of tiredness and longing
three inch heals
worn since morning
and all she could say was
my
oh
my
L. L. Barkat says
pink suede. That is an oh my too 🙂 Makes me smile!
HisFireFly says
Traffic in July
steam of summer
sizzled on concrete
sun kissed skin
sweat slicked hair
music throbbing
through open windows
bare feet tapping
rock jazz fusion
low spark of high
heeled boys
never too hot
to be cool
L. L. Barkat says
i especially like the short line lengths on this one. I found it got me reading with a jazzy beat.
And I am such a bare foot gal 🙂
Karen Swallow Prior says
This may be cheating a little bit, but here’s the opening to a post I wrote http://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2012/july/soul-of-your-soles-why-women-love-shoes.html about my shoe love (and how shoes are like poetry!):
Oxfords, Docs,
Converse, crocs.
Peep toes, pumps,
Mary Janes, clogs.
Jellies, Wellies,
Combats, Chucks.
Manolos, Maddens,
Sandals, stilettos.
Kitten heels, mules,
Birks and wedges.
A new study reveals that our soles are the window to our souls; these tongues do tell.