Reading Practices (of Shoes)

The sales associate must lift the lid.

She may have manicured fingernails. She may be expecting
a child. Inside
the box,

she should whisper to each of the shoes.
Then,

take a deep                               breath.

Listen: US 8 UK 7 D 39

Left and right must match.

This is the same identical woman,
the same shoe who picked her nose in traffic and looked both ways

before gliding in.

The sales associate shouldn’t remark on the size,
shouldn’t breath in sharply and say, “But these are Mine!”

It just wouldn’t do.
She might click heels together–

Back to the slow cooker,
to meatball mush, to life

with carpeting or tiled floor
to 30% off footsteps,

to leather or manmade upper curving in to meet
as many skin cells
as many membranes.                   Nested

objects (key chains and light up eight balls)—check.

Remove tissue, remove thoughts of stepping away,
the same foot. Release.

Bridal Bodies

Brides are herbivores; eat single serving applesauce and celery sticks

Nature meant for them to be continually blushing
to accommodate their new social roles.
Young women whose digestive tracks are designed

for cake tasting

And boozing it up are            Horses.

Small, frequent rations of fibrous materials:       tulle
Crinoline, the way taffeta rustles in private.

Men entered the picture and brought corsets,
boobies bursting                 their diet composition and meal patterns
to take in grooms with serious faces, the wild;

the wide selection of foods, including cucumber nibblets
and penis cocktails

always foraging         for bridal bodies—-
a hip bone here, and the amounts available

became one per customer.