Sole Mate

Those scars in your weather beaten skin –
slow healing grazes from rough crevices;
wounds I’ve waxed in the afternoon sun.
Almost forgotten the red fluid welts, the chafing
early days of our relationship, out of step.

Those wrinkles around your eyelets, golden brown,
count adventures – together, relentless,
plunging through the crisp crust of late snow
shedding dry ice crystals with every step;
sinking into the invisible depths of the long grass
as we cut a short, steep path to a distant ridge;
riding the volcanic dust slide to emerald lakes
where the earth is warm enough to melt chocolate.

Those ageing ties binding us at the track head –
you sturdy and strong where I am eager;
holding your grip where I might slip – once more
together, alone, on the verge of the wild.

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This poem was highly commended for Poetry Object 2013

Judge's notes:
This poem depicts a pair of hiking boots as an old companion, weatherbeaten and wrinkled, but still beloved. The poem is full of beautiful images of places the narrator and the shoes have been together (my favourite: “emerald lakes/ where the earth is warm enough to melt chocolate”).
But there is also a deeper point here about the value of independence, and being a good companion to oneself.

~ Rachael Briggs, Judge, Poetry Object 2013