Cool Shoes Along Howard Street

My shoes watch out for every step, 

              kicking the pebbles into the shadows of  time. 

 these heels scuffing

                  over concrete expansion joints,

                                                              Biloxi style.

End to end, the flat souls shine from the earth’s buffing,

                          gliding cool along the road

                                        to the corner convenient store.

       where the profiles of night-walkers,

                  hiding behind in the images of lace.

                                                 underground pests,

                                                         alligator-shooters,

                  skippers and nippers, jukes and slip-ons,

                                                      passing one another. 

  My shoes, leaping from cloud to cloud,

                                                              picking up the pace.