Catherine Chandler's Poetry Blog

Saturday, January 4, 2025

Madison Street: "Boots"

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 "Boots"

 

When Mr. Cooper died at ninety-three

his house was rented out in no time flat --

for who would buy a rundown clapboard painted

what kindly Mrs. Lake called “burgundy”?

Still, the gentle man who’d tipped his hat

was missed. So Mrs. Moffat nearly fainted

when in moved Boots, her mother, and her daughter

(Tsk-tsk, born out of wedlock!); but I thought her

cool. They called her Boots because she wore

red high-heeled boots no matter where she went.

Phil’s father claimed she was a two-bit whore

who had to turn cheap tricks to pay the rent.

But after Boots decamped to Baltimore,

I’d ape her swagger to my heart’s content.

 

Note: An earlier version of "Boots" published as "Luxuria" [Lust] as one of the sonnets in "SALIGIA: Seven Deadly Sonnets" can be found in my second collection, Glad and Sorry Seasons.  


 

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