The Carpenter's Daughter

No shoes
I walk the muddy streets,
the feeling of earth
under my toes
gives me an
incredible sense of
new freedom
knowing that somewhere
a mother
is frowning at
her child
who is undoubtedly doing
the same thing as me...
But I am not the child
who ruined her new school dress
or left her bike in the rain
I am not there
in the yard with
the dog
and the laundry
flapping
in a country breeze
while father plants
and mother sows
I am here in
the road
with many
forks and turns
blisters
guiding my path
as much as any
common sense
leaving me
wondering where
I should go
while my feet
dry in the sun.