187/365 : Breaking in

I have not one pair of loved shoes

That haven't worn through the soles

Or splayed at the sides,

Torn at the toe

Or stretched to my size

And this how I like it:

Signs of mud 

Failed attempts to clean up the wild

Unpolishable scuffs

I'm not rich enough to stay pristine

I don't value a boxed kind of clean

I want age and character and signs 

Of too many puddles

I want scuff marks and stories and

toe-heel-n-kickin those babies off

My shoes do not need coddling or protection

They need adventure inside them

The kind of strength that trusts the breaking in, and breaking out