feet
Q I was up there sitting on a stool strumming my acoustic guitar - I refuse to use those fake electronic gadgets that advertising hype labels "guitars."

Really I wasn't doing anything but strumming on stage an hour before the concert was to start.

In bare feet, of course. One foot down on the floor. Big and second toe of the other one wrapped around the bottom rung of the stool. Just sitting there strumming.

I had a whole hour.

I like to think sometimes, when I sit like that strumming away, that I am being painted by Picasso. You know, like the old guitarist he did a long time ago.

I believe imagination must be exercised a lot for creativity to have any chance, and the only chance I have is with creativity.

So I'm strumming away and get a little outside my dream for a second and look out to where the audience would be in less than an hour. A few rows back from the edge of the stage, I see this woman staring toward me intently, as if she is reaching for my foot resting on the bottom rung of the stool.

Not just any woman, mind you. A beautiful woman with amazing, penetrating eyes.

In the face of her very intense stare, I almost lose my composure.

But "No," I think. "You need to carry on like a professional, like some sort of cool cat who's completely into the acoustic of acoustic guitars, or she'll be outta' here."

So I carry on with my strumming solo, feet and toes fixed as if with glue.

"Is it just that foot of mine, or, if I could be so brash, all of my body strumming on this guitar that she is focusing on? Or is it just the music I'm playing?" I wondered, as I went on for fifteen more minutes, until I needed to get up and go back stage.

She might have breathed a time or two as that time passed, but her focus, whatever it was on, never wavered.

"That is one determined lady!" I could not help concluding.

When I could no longer avoid leaving, I fixed my eyes on her, smiled, bowed, and shouted "Merci beaucoup," as I threw her a kiss.

Then I walked off stage, wondering "Oh, what next?"
050626
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no reason a soft kick, a gentle nudge
i find there to be something romantic about the feet
080310
...
red bear your foot in my hand
drops innocently slackened
where do you place it?
demure but playfully shy
080311
...
native persimmon ( rung ) 080312
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