Of the things males are given
to make themselves men,
shoes are important among them.
Impressions –
in snow,
in mud,
in the office floors above ground.
Today at the gym I will wear blue shoes.
When I was a boy men did not wear blue shoes;
brown, black, tan, white, wing-tip,
but never blue.
Never.
Why not?
I never thought to ask.
No one asked. My father didn’t.
My uncle. My grandfather.
Women wore blue shoes.
Blue shoes for men was a concept
that could not be thought.
Not even if you wanted to.
But no one wanted to.
Blue shoes for men –
beyond imagining.
Now at 70,
I wear blue shoes.
I’m not alone.
Men wear blue shoes,
red, orange, green.
On the beach I saw a manly bird
with yellow feet.
2013