Flat-footed

a deer, by nature
is never caught
flat-footed, her hooves
are all toes, are they not?
and mine, whose arches bend
like the arc of time
am struck, like that deer
motionless in headlights,
flatfooted

those wolfish yellows slide
to a halt, and off
into the forest she goes
betwixt mistletoe and ivy
trees wide and mighty
prancing on ballet toes -
tell me what is holy
if not this
the dancing doe leaves me
wholly thunderstruck



Sometimes I'm made of thumbs and heels. I finish work, and the end of the day startles me into immobility. Have you ever tried playing soccer on your heels? Or tennis? You've got no reaction time, no quickness. Runners are often told to run on their toes, why? It's a pivot, a brace, a shock-absorbent. The reason hands, and fingers, are so remarkable is the number of pivots allow for a wide range of motion and adaptability. You don't pick things up with your wrist - it wasn't designed for grasping. Yet, between ball-and-socket, elbow, gliding, hinge, and hip joints, our bodies are capable of a wide variety of motion. And each distinct joint doesn't require the capability of each other type, so your hip can't throw (my lack of hips can't throw, that's for certain), and your elbow's don't glide (thankfully).
Tonight, I felt trapped on my heels. Not stressed, not anxious, not upset, just motionless, as though desiring of journey, movement, action, but incapable of such. It's not literal, of course, for I spent much of my "motionless" moments pacing the house, leaving warm trails of footsteps as I defined a circuitous route heading nowhere, and getting there quickly.