Wrong Footed by Joseph Chaney

Wrong Footed
Joseph Chaney

For Blake Burr

When my friend’s daughter refused to wear shoes
on the right feet (they felt good turned against
the arches), my friend let her choose her way,
because why argue with what a child feels?
Our parents wouldn’t have heard it. No child
of theirs walks in splayed shoes like a damn clown.
She may be a genius who sees through us
isn’t how they thought. Friends, too, stood on watch
to catch us at any wayward weirdness,
mocking our failures. Because they loved us.
Our kids now see how hard it is for us
to know ourselves, not feeling what we feel.
We go on, doubting our lives, we have to.
This, our chosen way of changing the world.