Sandstone Press

Shoes for Peace

Posted by RLD on 21st April 2009

Sandstone’s Robert Davidson was recently invited to judge a poetry competition organised by Neil Paynter, editor of Coracle, the magazine of the Iona Community.  Others on the panel were Neil himself, Kathy Galloway and Jan Sutch Pickard.  The first three choices and two runners up are published in the spring 2009 issue.

The same issue tells us that Kathy, who has seemed to be the only possible Leader for the Iona Community, is to hand over to Peter Macdonald after seven years at the helm.  Best wishes to both for the future.

The theme was Peace and the winner is Alan Kimmitt, who lives in Stirling, with this lightsome march.

SHOES FOR PEACE

I want three hundred and sixty-five pairs of shoes.
Not to own,
but to walk in for a day.

Seventy-two would be Chinese,
sixty-two Indian,
seven from Mexico,
only one from Cameroon.

A third would be made for men,
slightly fewer for women,
and slightly more for children,
but a quarter of the shoes would be bare feet.

Twelve would be used for leisure,
thirty would spend less time on the streets
than on the pedals of a car,
and three would rest on a wheelchair.

Ninety-eight would sport logos,
some stitched by children.
Nearly half would be made from cattle,
and seventeen from old car tyres.

Four would be army boots,
and thirty-six sandals.
Twenty would never walk on a paved road,
and five, bought on impulse, would never walk at all.

One would tread the streets of New York,
four would holiday at a Disney destination,
and one would be found floating
as floodwaters descend in Bangladesh.

I want three hundred and sixty-five pairs of shoes
to walk in for a day,
or maybe just one,
not my own,
but to wear
as I step out for peace.