i stood atop the edge of a cliff on my tip toes

my converse squeezed my soles

and i felt a pebble lodged inside

poking into my heal

i untied each shoe 

and hurled them, one by one,

into the deep

where they kicked up dust

and were buried by bush

i peeled each sock off

clutched them both in one palm

i held my arm out in front of me

opened my fist and watched

my little socks succumb to sky

as they disappeared

into the boulders below

i opened my arms wide

balanced on the trembling earth

and screamed to the mountains on the other side

and screamed to the sky wreaked with grey

and screamed to the ground strewn with parched weeds

and my screams came bounding back to me

and they knocked me backwards

i went home barefoot