My Neighbor’s Heel Poem by Vanja Izova Veleva

I look at my neighbor’s
chapped heel.
GEOGRAPHY – I think.

Doesn’t her footstep
weigh heavily upon the world?
Don’t people scream
under its weight?

My neighbor’s heel
is her mark – her geography.
Her grooved stockings
remember the cracks.

Her geography
is her philosophy of life:
“Scratch with what
they least expect to be scratched.”
My neighbor’s heel
is a fired petard
left behind as a reminder
of a past celebration.