Promptly Poetry Challenge 2021-22

Left over right [Week 35 entry]

Left over right


Remember our stroll on the jetway that day,
and letting the Starlifter fly us away
to Frankfurt am Main - the "Gateway" detour -
then onward to Augsburg, our very first tour?

Through workdays, inspections, parades and the like,
we both looked real sharp, when the light hit us right.
The brass on my collar, my be-ribboned chest,
always looked good, but you shone the best.

Then someone at D.A. decided to end
our German adventure by plotting to send
myself and my family to good ol' Fort Hood,
where mesquite's considered a popular wood.

Alas I must leave you, my trusty old shoes
as I fly away to the land of tan hues.
A pair of new Corfams may soon take your place,
but shine though they might we will never be mates.




Prompt / Form / Jargon Notes ▼

Prompt: Think about your favorite pair of shoes. Now write a poem about an adventure you've had in those shoes.
Form Note: Rhyme scheme = aabb ccdd eeff gghh
Jargon/background: D.A. = Department of the Army. Title refers to the Army's prescribed way to lace any footgear: left lace over right lace. Come to think of it, the Army favors the left on a lot of stuff. Generally speaking, marching / facing movements begin with the left foot. Also, a soldier is usually on the left side of their basic weapon and its ejection port (I'm told getting spent brass down your shirt can be quite painful ).