Eyes Wide Open, a traveling exhibit by the American Friends Service Committee, includes a pair of combat boots for each U.S. soldier killed in the Iraq war and hundreds of shoes to represent the tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians killed.
The least we can do
let the empty boots breathe:
tongues flat, leather molded to the nubs of ankle,
cradles of heels, shells of toes
and line them up serpentine
by state
Alabama to Wyoming, no break
Boxes pulled across the room, untaped,
emptied boot by boot—
a garage band, a bowling league
in a pair from Utah, shined like a lacquer vase,
a carnation dry on its stem
in a pair from Vermont, soft as a Sunday sock,
keys on a Star Trek chain,
postcards with daffodils sketched at the top
A math teacher sitting crosslegged on the floor
turns each nametag to read face up
slides the soles into place—
beads on an abacus, counting.
Published in Crab Orchard Review
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