The Shoe Dream

by Carolyn Adams

Aunt Betty tells me shoe stores make her angry. 

She hates the brittle sheen

of the leathers and plastics

just visible under the split lids

of the colored paper boxes.

Lifting each shoe, she has me

put them under the seats,

on shelves where they don’t go,

in the wrong boxes.

The air is heavy

with the stink of chemicals

and preservatives,

cheap perfume and sweat.

Customers wander in

and out of the store,

taking hammers to the broad

windows, prying up the check-out

stand, scattering

the store’s profits.

Aunt Betty throws her car keys

on the kitchen table.

Kicks off the pumps Uncle Ed

bought her the day before the night

he left.

* * * * *

Carolyn Adams’ poetry and art have appeared in Beatnik Cowboy, Willawaw Journal, Glass Mountain, San Pedro River Review, and Common Ground Review, among others. She has been nominated for a Pushcart prize, as well as for Best of the Net, and was a finalist for 2013 Poet Laureate of the city of Houston, TX. She is currently an associate editor for Mojave River Review. Having relocated from Houston, she now lives in Beaverton, OR.