Rachel S. Valladares Pierstorff Letter Poem 14 December 2010 Dear Slippers I can find you if I look hard.

One under my bed The other beneath magazines. I dont need you in the spring Or want you in the summer. My feet are toasty without you. You hide away forgotten, Counting the days, the months Till I want you again. How is it when I spring clean And hurl you in the closet, Yet another useless shoe? Do you feel the pitch? Are you my curve ball? A soldier launched by shrapnel? Do spiders keep you company As dust settles on you, A dandelion bunny or two? Leaves whither, The tile chills to arctic love, And I remember you. I need you again, Your furry warmth Round my soles. I pull you from under Cosmo

Drag you out from the closet, Pitch you in the wash.

You churn, Shivering in the cold, Soggy and alone. You warm, Curling in the heat. Finding your way To me.