Ode to the Fat Dad Shoe - A Poem
An Ode to the Fat Dad Shoe
A Poem by Michael Raileanu
To the fat dad shoe:
I love you.
I feel the need to write these words today
So that my feelings might be on display.
I am both fat and a dad,
Neither of these makes me sad.
I look down
As I go around town
And I see others I’d like to meet
With you on their feet.
We move about the city
Like a slothful physical action committee.
None of us really getting any exercise
Pleased as we are to remain our size.
But we could do it, our shoes imply
We just haven’t found a compelling reason why.
Cross trainers, the shoes are called,
For serious athletes, or those who are so-called.
White New Balance 622’s by far the dominant choice,
“I’m ready at a moment’s notice,” says their earnest yet small voice.
300 plus pounds pounding the earth
Day after day they’re waiting to reduce our girth.
Complain, no not one word,
From them is ever heard.
When they walk with us into candy shops, ice cream parlors and professional sporting events,
Overshadowed as they are by Hawaiian shirts made of flowery tents.
Is there even one pair of you,
That is actually doing what you were intended to do?
Does anyone in you ever work up a sweat
Other than when dragging the mutt to the vet?
I keep them clean, which they probably don’t like
As they’d rather go sloshing around on a bike.
But when the day comes that I am ready to lose weight
They’ll be here for me, finally fulfilling their fate.
Until that day, Fat Dad Shoe,
I will wear you, singing praises long overdue.