Inanimate Object Project

A suggestion was made to me that perhaps I should share my poems before my entries, so that my audience my interpret the poem for themselves before knowing why I wrote it. So, watch out! Here comes a new format!

Purple Climbing Shoes

The dust of the earth

coats my carapace and sole.

I will keep you safe.

---

I am the cradle -

what keeps you from the hard stone.

I am the carriage.

---

You walk without me,

but together we ascend.

Could I be your wings?

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This Choka was for a Wayne Writer's Guild assignment - to write from the perspective of an inanimate object. As you can probably gather from the title, I chose to write about my climbing shoes. I was surprised to find poetry in shoes, especially since I prefer to walk barefoot. But, they are extremely important to me - they allow me to do what I love. Without those shoes, I would not be able to reach the physical and emotion heights that have become essential to my happiness.
My shoes have saved me from falling countless times that I can recall, and I'm sure countless more than I even realize. I can climb barefooted, but I don't achieve much. I'm constantly jamming my toes into crevices and slamming my heels onto surfaces that would be unmanageable without my shoes. the give me protection, stiffness, and friction that my bare feet cannot offer me. If I like top-roping (with the harness and belays), I would climb barefoot more often. But I like to boulder - no equipment and much more diverse surfaces.