Heels tapped on the pavement,
cracked red patent flashed ’Stop!’
but she could only go
despite the pinch on her little toe
and the blisters rubbed raw
by red shoe leather,
lucky pumps borrowed
from her sister.
No shoes of her own,
no trainers, boots or sandals to her name;
everything sold to fund her habit,
to keep her sane. If only she’d read
that story to the end, she might know what to do
about the tight squeeze of a red shoe.
Kim M. Russell, 5th April 2018
My response to The Poetry School NaPoWriMo Prompt for Day 5: The Talisman, also linking to dVerse Poets Pub Open Link Night.
Linking up again to What’s Going On? on 24th January 2024.
Today Ali would like us to write poems with a central, essential object – a thing, a talisman – around which all the action circles. He says he’s looking for the poetic equivalent of Rosebud in Citizen Kane, Hedda Gabler’s father’s pistols, McMurphy’s pack of erotic playing cards in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the briefcase in Pulp Fiction. He’s not looking for a poem about an object — no odes to telephones or hub caps – but a poem in which an object allows other things to happen, other stories to be told. It doesn’t have to appear all the time but it has to be important.
lovely poem
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Thank you, Livinia!
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Very well thought out. I like!
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Thanks Viv!
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The Red Shoes! I hadn’t thought of this for many years. A lovely ode to consequences. Kim, you are hitting all cylinders with this.
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Thank you, Jane. I’ve had to up the ante with those Poetry School prompts. 🙂
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I had never thought of the red shoes as a metaphor for addiction. Love this one, Kim!
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Thank you, Sarah!
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I always remember HC Andersson’s story of the red shoes, and I think you pulled the poor girl back in a very real way… “to fund her habit”… very much like the original when she just kept dancing till she died.
http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheRedShoes_e.html
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That story always fascinated me – I love the darkness of it.
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Red shoes always pinch 🙂
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I once turned a single red shoe into a lamp – it looked great on my black shelf!
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We were so inventive in those days 🙂
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😉
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My goodness! I love how you associate those red shoes to addiction. Powerful and thought-provoking write, Kim 💜
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I love the way you read my poetry, Sanaa. Thank you!
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Beautiful red shoes, make you feel young and full of it, even though they do pinch a bit! When the day is grey and you really don’t want to go to work, put on those red shoes, they will make your day!
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🙂
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I love how you weave the red shoes through the poem, dancing through different interpretations – a wonderful write Kim! :o) xxx
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Thank you, Xenia! 🙂 xxx
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A lovely piece-to me the red shoes are what Dorothy wore in the Wizard of OZ- magical shoes….
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But they can also be ‘naughty’ shoes!
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Beautiful, Kim ! Loved the way you brought it together – “to fund her habit, to keep her sane”
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Thank you, Neeraj!
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I remember the Red Shoes. I can’t remember how it ends. Egads, I would have to dance forever. Wow, I just wiki’ed the Hans Christian Anderson children’s story. That’s terrible. She had the executioner cut her feet off so she could stop. He (Anderson) wrote some scary children’s tales. Yours is way, way better.
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Everyone knows the sugared, Disney-style versions of Andersen’s stories. They are indeed dark, which is why I enjoy them!
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Aha, the dark side
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I love the color of red and with red shoes, it is a fantastic metaphor and focal point of the story ~
Good luck Kim !
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Thank you, Grace!
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kaykuala
she might know what to do
about the tight squeeze of a red shoe
It is a real torture wearing shoes that don’t fit
Hank
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Always Fascinating scenes of Grooviness. 😎🥀😎🥀😎🥀😎🥀😎🥀
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I’d say you met the challenge of your prompt. Visual and symbolic; I wouldn’t want to walk a mile in these borrowed shoes.
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Me neither!
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Good poem, though sad. Borrowing from her sister! Nan
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Thank you, Nan!
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oh you turned a tale — I do remember those dancing red shoes…and here you’ve really given us a story to ponder…a very sad one. It is almost visceral.
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Thank you, Lill! I don’t think I’ve ever actually worn red shoes!.
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Haha, WOW! If only we knew the consequences, what might we not have done. Lovely / scary way to see the red shoes! Did you provide a link to “What’s Going On?”
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Oops! I have now, Thank you, Susan!
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I really like how you worked with the red shoes and addiction. You’ve written a powerful poem,Kim!
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Thank you, Mary!
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Naughty red shoes, giving pinch and blisters; let alone the dark tale it’s associated with. But aren’t they pretty too? a lovely poem, Kim.
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Naughty hoes, indeed, Sumana! Thank you.
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So sad, everything sold to fund her habit. A desperate sounding life.
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I have come across a few young addicts like her, Sherry. Not easy to help.
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A borrowed red shoe that is a red flag… the colour serves the message.
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Thank you, Rajani.
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Incredible imagery – perfectly vivid.
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Thank you kindly!
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The fairytale about the Red Shoes used to terrify me as a child. I like to think that she might have found a way to live happily with red shoes on her feet.
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It had a scary take, Suzanne. I love Kate Bush’s version.
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I don’t know it but will look for it.
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Kim,
Such an emotional truth found in the wearing of those red shoes.
The pain and sadness of addiction…when hope is lost…
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Thank you, Eileen.
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