Great poets and great prices

Last week, I bought a copy of Pablo Neruda's ¨Odas elementales,¨or ¨Elemental Odes,¨which is a book of poetic odes to all sorts of things, ranging from solitude to artichokes. In honor of Pablo Neruda's birthday, which was this Sunday, I decided to write an ode. It's more in the style of Walt Whitman than Pablo Neruda, but whatever. Here goes!

Ode to these Five-Dollar Shoes

Oh, sweet five-dollar shoes!

Your two halves unite my two great passions:

Saving money

And spending it.

Your cheap rubber soles

Traverse,

Navegate,

And steer me through

Asphalt, cement, concrete!

Helping me flee from stray dogs, creepy men, and catcalls!

(You are more aptly compared to sails than sales.)

Resting on public buses,

Napping within carpeted taxis,

And dozing on linoleum classroom floors,

You wait for me until I am ready to get up again.

Black wings of mercury!

With you, five-dollar shoes,

I fly through this city even when I am walking.

Your laces,

Though knotted tightly,

Do not bind me.

(Instead, our unity gives me greater freedom.)

But how much longer can you hold together?

Already, your canvas is fading, your laces are stained, and your soles are holey.

(Your souls are holy.)

Five-dollar shoes, what would I be without you?

Probably

Barefoot.