Poetry

These Feet by: AJ Houston

So you think it’s easy

wearing these feet

I’ll admit

I didn’t like them when first discovered

It was hard to balance and they would never keep

their aim in the right direction after much training and practice

they fit quite well over time the odometer’s broken

not the feet the odometer even thought

of having them replaced no repairs were necessary

It hasn’t been easy wearing these feet they’ve walked all over

Europe with the weight of a rucksack bearing callouses, corns and athlete’s feet

from spit shined boots and green socks even those

who feel in love with them eventually gave up

there too many miles left to destiny

it’s hard on tagalongs when they are unable to visualize

the final destination traveling

so far by choice and on demand tattered and worn – still they are not

for sale

I’ve gotten use to them now

But you think it’s easy wearing these feet

Once I believed they failed me on purpose

climbing to the highest branch knowing they had no fingers and couldn’t hold on

falling just to see how fast I could recover pressing

petal to the metal on 5 tons on autobahns

couldn’t have been the smartest move or repelling

from helicopters sometimes I think they played off balance

to see if I would give up trying

there has been so many seeds and non seeds

trying them on… feet to feet

daughters learning to dance sons and grandchildren

wanting to see what it felt like to wear

them what it felt like to be tall feet

are somehow our unspoken connection

wishing earlier in life

I had developed a foot fetish

maybe I would have found the perfect match

making some off beat thinkers

right – what if Love Real love started feet first?

Shoe sizes are just numbers

It was a stroke of genius to sell them in pairs making it easier to tell

who’s feet are who’s and you think

it’s easy wearing these feet

They have jumped from heights many would die

from walked through deep trenches and on floors of muddy rivers

delivered babies well… carried me to cut

the umbilical chord won and lost races

these are marvelous feet even

if you believe they are not so you think

its easy wearing these feet Here!

Try them on – see if you can run in them

I’ve adapted perfectly but if you have two

of your own try working with those

first then let yours join mine to see

if they can keep up for these feet have never been easy to wear

The Difference Between A Prayer and A Poem By: AJ Houston

Don’t pinch me

I seldom sleep

my eyes are double sided

both views are real to me

I speak a stolen language

it’s the only one

I know my tongue knotty knees

scarred every word

a prayer scriptures hidden

in my breath

I don’t write – my hands are on automatic pilot

there is a difference between flying

powered by fuel or wings

thoughts never take off or land

the same way the runway

in the back of my mind is where Angels congregate

haven’t had the pleasure of meeting

them face to face

but I hear their conversations and we talk a lot

they asked if I be poet or prophet told me

I speak the words of a Psalmist

I responded….. my tongue be both illiterate and genius,

thunder and calm wedged between fire and rain

we are left with few options

paper or plastic is not a real choice

when plastic is as harmful as nuclear waste

we destroy mother earth’s

giver of oxygen to scribe the words

of half truths or the words of a prayer

our emotions are Omni directional

closely resembling a poem

they contain the same reverence although

poetry in the wrong lips….. is blasphemy