October 02, 2005
a favorite
high heeled sneakers
Stef Pixner, 1985
i dreamed Simone de Beauvoir and i
were climbing a mountain eating crepes
and wearing espadrilles, she carried
her alarm clock on her head
whereas i pulled behind me three train
carriages full of the things i thought
i might need for the journey.
we talked pleasantly of this and that. i
was trying to impress her with how
interesting i was coming from the post
war generation from a communist family
and being a woman but i had to stop
every now and again to change my
espadrilles for ballet shoes or army boots
or pick my nose or adjust a comma
on my hat or look at the view
or a word in the dictionary so that
she got to the top of the mountain before
me despite her years and
ate more crepes in the meanwhile
sitting on her alarm clock and waiting
for me and my train. when i got
there at last she said there are some
questions i’ve been meaning
to ask a woman of your
generation and so she began asking me
questions and i changed from my
army boots to a pair of high heeled
sneakers and back to espadrilles and then
back into the ballet shoes. i’ve been meaning
to write you a long letter i said but just
then we saw a horde of mountain bears make
off with the luggage i’d so carefully
chosen and she still had a few books
to eat that morning so we exchanged
espadrilles and chinese postcards and
waved our red handkerchiefs
just as the lights went up.
eyed at 2:43 PM