For they have basketball, soccer, and golf shoes
For playing games I have to watch.
For they have the shoes I wish to have.
For they have boots that displease them because they are not Uggs.
For firstly Megan’s Nike shoes lay around the house.
For secondly there are extras which overflow the bins.
For thirdly they break our bank account.
For fourthly Rachel’s are forgotten under beds and in the many bins.
For fifthly many are old and do not fit.
For sixthly my shoes are gladly stolen.
For seventhly Madeline desires to visit the golden palace of DW.
For eighthly they think Payless does not deserve their presence.
For ninthly Emily desires shoes for one night.
For tenthly they complain greatly about my lack of shoes.
For the first is addicted to the thought of high end boutiques.
For the second her need rises beyond all sane expectation.
For the twins they scream in pain for multiple pairs of flip flops.
For they all are not wise as the dogs
For Marley and Micah have no shoes at all.
Mary C. O'Malley has MFA and MSW degrees and is the mother of five children
including two sets of twins. Some of her work has appeared in Whiskey
Island, Mid-American Poetry Review and online in The Box Car
Review, Cezanne's Carrot, Poetry Midwest and Lunaristy. She
also has been published in the recent anthology Cleveland in Prose and
Poetry.