new boots
just spent some bucks for boots
they're light and comfy
tie above the ankles
perfect for tromping out
into the underbelly
of an unknown land
i've been wearing them every day
for awhile
better to break them in now
than to find out too late
in the middle of nowhere
there's a spot that rubs wrong
and there's nothing for it
but to bandage blisters at night
so far so good
they seem a perfect fit
i got some new boots
for the inner woman too
they're also light and comfy
but they don't tie at all
pretty skimmers
another perfect fit
slide 'em on
and you're good to go
equally suited for
everyday
tripping the light fantastic
or navigating new territory
sturdy enough for whatever terrain
needs exploring
comfortable enough not to rub
i've needed those new
me-boots desperately
it's been too long
stumbling through life
rough and clumsy
in the old ones
too heavy for everyday
laces knotted and fraying
soles worn down to the soul
scraping it with every step
against the ground
not sure why i kept wearing them
just lazy i guess
or maybe afraid of change
but now
i got me some new boots
for outside and in
and neither pair
is more or less real
than the other
and yes
i'm really good to go
The One That Got Away
You know those movies
where two people meet
and instantly bond –
heart mind soul
and sometimes but not always
flesh –
like temporary magnets
the kind that can't resist each other
when in close proximity?
I’m not talking red hot lust here.
No. This goes beyond itchy pants.
This is
THE ONE.
There's cosmic glue…
Oh shit, I’m mixing metaphors with the magnets,
but the magnets are important
because
there's a point I forgot to make back there,
and that is:
Temporary magnets only bond
in the presence of the electromagnetic field
energizing them.
Move them away from that and
BANG!
They're demagnetized.
People, on the other hand
are hardwired for memory:
shortterm, longterm, sensory,
explicit, implicit, declarative,
procedural, semantic, episodic.
Hell, there's even muscle memory.
And THAT is the point.
When that happens in these movies –
the instant bonding, I mean,
because it's Hollywood,
when those people are separated –
and they ALWAYS are,
temporarily or permanently –
they never forget.
No matter what else happens,
that experience is an invisible mnemonic –
an emotional tattoo.
Yeah, I know
a lot of you say love isn't unique,
fashioned to fit only one,
but I’m here to validate Hollywood.
For some people there is only
THE ONE:
the love of one's life,
the (disgusting term) soulmate.
Hell, even Conan Doyle knew this
when he assigned Sherlock’s dried-up
misanthropic heart to Irene Adler.
How many have lost
THE ONE
to death or some other unavoidable,
irrevocable separation and lived alone thereafter
unable to reassign that love
to an inferior substitute?
And what about the ones who
found each other, stayed together
and when one finally gives up the ghost
the other dies within weeks or months
because life has lost its meaning
in the absence of
THE ONE?
They're uncountable.
I bet you even know people like this.
For some of us there really is only
THE ONE.
Yes, everyday life goes on for most,
but it's only a half-life;
the real living takes place
within the boundaries of that emotional tattoo,
within the mnemonic of
THE ONE
who by whatever means –
death or disaster or just rotten bad luck –
got away.
surgical steel
after our dizzy fling was over
i kept up with your shenanigans in secret
i bit my tongue bloody
to keep from snapping out some snark
about your endless string of conquests
even if i had given voice to the venom
it wouldn't have so much as scratched
the surface of your inch-thick hide
nothing i said in love ever did
nothing i'd say in anger ever could
i marvel at the swath you cut
mowing willing sacrifices down
like daisies under a sharp blade
you always were cold and clinical
there's no accounting for taste
About RC deWinter
RC deWinter is a writer/digital artist whose poetry has been anthologized in New York City Haiku (NY Times 2017) and Uno: A Poetry Anthology (Verian Thomas, 2002). Her poetry has appeared in print in 2River View, Pink Panther Magazine, Another Sun, Plum Ruby Review, Garden Tripod well as in many online publications. Down in the Dirt will feature two of her poems in its forthcoming Jan/Feb 2019 issue. Her art has been published, too, and also used as set décor on ABC-TV’s Desperate Housewives.