David Stephenson

---

 

To Whoever Made My Shoes

I think about you when I lace them up,
though I'm not really clear on where you are—
someplace half a world away that's full
of bustling factories and container ships,

and where no one wears a size twelve shoe.
Are you shocked by our overgrown footwear
and wonder if we're eight or nine feet tall
or have evolved large feet to walk on snow?

Or do you never think of us at all
amid the constant noise, the heat and stench,
the hours of grinding rote activity,
the stress and pressure of the factory?

Ours is a world of ruthless industry
and unavoidable complicity
and I don't know the true cost of my shoes.
I think about you when I lace them up.

David Stephenson lives in Detroit, MI. His poems have most recently appeared in The Road Not Taken, Poetry Porch, and Snakeskin. His second collection, Wall of Sound, was published by Kelsay Books in 2022. He is also the editor of Pulsebeat Poetry Journal.