An Ode - A Lament - to shoes of old, or just old shoes, you choose!

So a year ago, when we went to Spain and Portugal we walked, a lot!  I took 2 pairs of shoes; a pair of Fitflop flipflops, and a pair of Mephisto sandals.  I took these 2 pair because they are comfortable, broken in, and have really good arch support.  I am overweight, and have plantar faschitis, a really bad combo for crappy shoes.

When we came back after a month, people kept saying we had lost weight.  We really hadn't noticed.  When we went we took minimal clothes, and jetisoned quite a bit of those before we returned.

I did notice a difference in my clothes once we returned, so I know I had lost weight.  We both felt better for having walked so much, and vowed to start walking daily.   We never did!

Well, we just got back from 34 days in Italy - we walked alot.  And again, I took 2 pair of shoes, the same 2 pair.  Absolutely no problems, walked hours and hours each day, in fact I did the trails of Cinque Terre in my fitflops.

 No problems.  Unfortunately, unlike Spain , we did not lose weight.  I blame this on the incredibly high fat content, namely olive oil, of the food in Italy.  That and the volume of processed food, bread, pasta, ...  No matter what you have, even a scrambled egg and sliced tomatoes,  they pour a healthy amount of olive oil over.  Now don't get me wrong, it's tasty, but damn!

Well once again, we vowed to start a walking regimen.  Took us a week, ok more than a week to get it together but we started.

I started out walking in the Mephistos, I got blisters, then I tried the Fitflops, and again, blisters, I think it's the humidity here - causes the things to rub differently.

Well today I pulled out the pair of runners/tennies/athletic shoes/????, what do you call them?  I think these were actually marketed as walking shoes.   Pretty huh?

Well I bought these when we decided to move down here (2006), everyone said buy good walking shoes.  I think this is the first time I had them on!

Well, as you can imagine

OKAY, no worries, we were only a block and a half from the house.  Back we came and I switched to a pair of Tevas that I bought when we went to France, in 2004.   Walked all over France in these babies.  I've even worn them here a dozen or so times.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!  

what do you think?  

They just don't make things the way they used to?  Or I just keep things too long?

Tom's handy, you all know that - he's got glue, he says he can fix em.

needless to say, I took this as an omen.  I did not try for a 3rd pair and go walking.   I am thinking about going shopping for a pair of good walkers though.   Any suggestions?

Lament, by Joshua Edwards

This playground's crater began way back

with the formation of a meteor collecting

reflections of itself. I sit here thinking,

one foot planted in creation, the other

in exploitation, that my complaint is premise

and illusion, and fruit is memory and energy.

Someone who says a photo of a frame is not cute

enough to be coy. Rather, I'm told, you

must show the rotting classic and evoke

its historiography. I fall asleep drunk

and wake up startled. Archery makes an echo

of war. I must take a long walk before

I speak. I must buy new shoes before I walk.

I must get a job that doesn't yet exist

to afford suitable shoes. I will not mention

the catalog of fossils reborn in images.

As the team is led back into its barn,

a light passes from the house and is gone,

terminating on the blank skull of a ram.

Joshua Edwards is the director and co-editor of Canarium Books.

 He’s the author of Imperial Nostalgias and Campeche, 

and translator of Mexican poet Maria Baranda’s Ficticia.