Listen underneath

Image of Long Story Short Award - 2022
Image of Poetry
Feet sweep between dark tar and white lines,
the streets reel with soft cries.
Thousands of shoe soles hover above sewers
waiting, walking, wandering.
Making click-clack ticks on the concrete
or soft, shuffling dances among bustling hustlers
or pounding loud, drowning out
indistinct background rhythm—
thump, thump, thud.

Making their own migrations, mindlessly.
Past glass panes with human frames
fast over sidewalk cracks, toes tick-tack
past shining windchimes, tittering innocently,
up the wooden slats on the front steps
over welcome mats with dirt flecks
on worn grass in muggy sky
glubbing heavily through humid July.

Through anything feet keep seeking—
waiting, walking, wandering.
amidst city secrets
sleeping beneath restless shoe soles.
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