Old Tennis Shoes

     A face in a diner, a stubble covered face, a sullen look, an unwashed smell: some men, they say, can't much stay put.  That's what they say "some men," an oddity, a break from the homogenous mixture of mens' thoughts.
    That man you see on the side of the road at night, he is marching to a broken drum.  His steps, however are at a familiar tempo, a rhythm you've beaten out before: the heart of man is made to run.  Yes, we all feel it, the urge to just stop.  Drop everything.   Walk.   Stalk.   Smile.   Hum.   Stager.   Flee.   See.   Reach.   Touch.   But mostly just run.  That shadow on the side of the road, the ghost of your own ambitions -a spector of your heart.  He runs, why then, can't you.
     You are anchored, secured, shackled to insecurity.  You fear the long walk, the unbeaten path.  You measure your strides with the footprints of those who came before you.  You wish to steal your feet from the road, and lock them away forever with the rest of your soul.  Yes, that man in the woods, feet dirty with the love of true things, he is a knight.  His mangey mane a badge of courage: courage you;  I, do not have.
 

Author's Note

This is inspired by John Steinbeck's Cannery Row. The name, if ou haven't read the book, is a reference to a nickname for a bottle of cheap whiskey in the story.

Reviews

[Sam Davidson]

This is powerful man, I like it.

You introduce this diner, these people, and with a few words - "sullen look"; "unwashed smell" - we know what you're talking about.

And then you talk about the "ghost of your ambitions" running free, when you're "chained to your insecurities". So this diner the reader's just left is a bit like the hum-drum pace of life and when you try to get out and to run away you can't because life has left you so insecure.

This is a very evocative prose-poem, it sounds like a saga reduced to a few lines.

[LSS]

Tyler,
This is a complete story in its own right; chapters and pages rolled into one short prose. So well written. Your self-comparison to Steinbeck is not off the mark. You too have a way of poignant delivery, a mastery of the imaginary words that express the image from the soul's eye. The intro is well placed, keep it.
Lar

[lunatic.]

I'm quite curious as to how this turns out.

I like the introduction, although the word diner made me instantly think of arizona for some reason. Maybe that's just me.


More of a prologue than an introduction, but not in a frankenstein manner, moreso setting the scene like...oh, i cant find an appropriate example.


so far, so brilliant.