Used Boots for Sale Part II

Rick forwarded this craigslist ad for a pair of old boots. It has the pathos of great art and is the source of inspiration for two poems.

#1

Craigslist: Farm and Garden

Used boots now for sale,
A new ad on craigslist.
What fool would sell this?
On what must he subsist?

Forty bucks is all
To walk in his old shoes.
A desperate fellow’s lot?
A life of loss and booze?

Rob

#2

Craigslist Haiku

Yours for 40 bucks
Used work boots size eleven.
Reduced to 20.

Rick

The ad reminds me of the proud old babushki (grandmas) of St. Petersburg, survivors of Stalin and the Fascist blockade, who became so poor in the early post-Soviet days that many would stand all day in the freezing cold, wrapped snugly in dark heavy coats and scarves selling little trinkets from their closets, moldy old potatoes from their dachas, and black bread from the government truck's morning run resold at a small margin. I would often buy something out of pity.