A Prairie Home Companion from American Public Media: First Person

Shoes
by John Taylor
February 14, 2007

time on my hands
I stand and look for a long time
at their rooms
just stand there and look
trying very hard to hear them
trying to recall their voices
praying never to forget
and then I remember
how the house was once full of sounds
their lives running at full speed
and I am troubled when I think
that I once begged for silence
bedrooms full of things once brought to life
now just lie there
dolls lay limp
guitar strings losing tune
a masters hand no longer commands them
bed covers grow dustier each day
a house needs people to be a home
requires love and the smell of supper
dirty dishes in the sink
lights left on
how I miss a pair of shoes on the stairs
needing to be brought to a room

About the author:
Not much really... started writing after a divorce as a way to vent. I read a few to very close friends and they liked them. They said I had a way to say things they had thought of too. So I have written about 150 poems over about ten years or so. I will write for many months then not write for years. That tends to get bad reviews from those same friends. I am a airplane mechanic by training. But have been in machine tools for manufacturing for most of these last 15-20 years. Always loved english in high school. I have a personal library of over 300 books. Mostly biography and english lit.

thanks for reading my stuff