Footprints Trimeric

Here are the baby footprints
see the future bunion
made worse by pointe shoes
placed too soon on ungrown bones?

See the future bunion
preventing dance
mishandled by a surgeon

made worse by pointe shoes
never meant for my feet
but only for my soul,

placed too soon on ungrown bones
dancing a dream
that my body could not make real.

Carol Coven Grannick is a poet and author whose middle grade novel, Reeni's Turn, debuted in 2020 (Fitzroy). Her creative nonfiction verse narrative for adults, Call Me Bob, is due in 2022 from Oprelle Publications. Grannick's poetry and fiction for children has appeared in Highlights, Cricket, Ladybug, Babybug, and The Dirigible Balloon, and her work for adults most has most recently appeared in The Birmingham Arts Journal, Capsule Stories, and The Write City Magazine (Chicago Writers Association).