Joe Dolce: Two Poems

A Shoe is a Shoe is a Shoe

When Prime Minister Julia Gillard

dropped a low-heeled dark blue

Midas Glorify size 36 wedge

at Aboriginal Tent City

it entered Shoe Closet Elysium

with Jesus’s thong & Ötzi’s frozen-toe binding

every culture slips into shoe fetish

the Eygptian ancient soleless Cleopatra sandal

Masai rawhide & Indian wood

Japanese ricestraw Mexican yucca

Chinese Golden Lily Slippers

today Blahnik Vuitton Choo

in myth-time Cinderella’s Prince

The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe

Dorothy’s size 6 goodwitch ruby slippers

Hans Christian Andersen’s whirling reds

brought madness to dancers

Gods and Heroes wore none

Alexander the Great had barefoot armies

a person of great wealth was well-heeled

16th century royalty introducing the high-heel

court ladies appearing larger-than-life

while Persian horsemen claimed high-heels helped hold

rider’s feet in stirrups

cones kittens puppies spools stilettos

Evdokia Petrova’s lost grey clog on the Mascot tarmac

newspapered incorrectly as a Commie Red

suggested instead emerging Australian womenpower

air hostess Joyce Bull lending Petrova her own

Khrushchev banged a good low one in protest

forcing UN officials to turn off his microphone

but granddaughter Nina said he only removed them

because they were too tight Nikita’s son Sergei

denied it happened at all claiming no photo proof

anyway papa was too big and couldn’t reach his feet.

Everything Is Fixed           

Fixed lips and fixed skin

fixed nose and a fixed chin

fixed preachers and fixed sin

fixed politicians with fixed kin

you can teach a new dog old tricks

everything is fixed

fixed tips from a fixed source

fixed stocks on a fixed bourse

fixed punch and a fixed horse

fixed grades in a fixed course

my heart’s been hurt by stones and sticks

everything is fixed

they say new things don’t last like the old

but even old money is losing control

superglue band aides staples duct tape

all going to shake in a 9 Richter quake

if it aint broke it can still be fixed

everything is fixed

fixed ceilings and fixed doors

fixed news and fixed wars

fixed banks and fixed boards

fixed charts and fixed awards

so much patching is giving me ticks

everything is fixed.

Joe Dolce

Joe Dolce