Cigarette Shoe by Fern G. Z. Carr

Untitled, by Cathy Daley, 1998.

Cigarette Shoe

Femme fatale,
saucy coquette
she bares her sole –

the rubber tip of her stiletto heel
slightly jagged
like the smouldering ash
at the tip of a cigarette

and the spiral bands
of her toe box
twirling
in ever-diminishing
curls of smoke –

fiery rivals for the
affections of the circular
ankle choker
that is her ashtray.

Cigarette Shoe is sinful
and seductive
flaunting her wares and
strutting her stuff
in the seedy twilight haunts
of grey, black and white pastel.

Fern G. Z. Carr

FERN G. Z. CARR is a Director of Project Literacy, lawyer, teacher and past President of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. She is a Full Member of and former Poet-in-Residence for the League of Canadian Poets.  Carr composes and translates poetry in five languages while currently learning Mandarin Chinese.  A 2013 Pushcart Prize nominee, she has been published extensively world-wide from Finland to Mauritius. In addition to multiple prizes and awards, honours include being cited as a contributor to the Prakalpana Literary Movement in India; her poetry having been taught at West Virginia University and set to music by a Juno-nominated musician; an online feature in The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper; and her poem, “I Am”, chosen by the Parliamentary Poet Laureate as Poem of the Month for Canada.  Carr is thrilled to have one of her poems presently orbiting the planet Mars aboard NASA’S MAVEN spacecraft. www.ferngzcarr.com.