barefoot

For 90 minutes
a stranger touched me
kneading out my knots and tightnesses
pressure points
stress

I told her about
diet, exercise, meditation

She moved deeply into my exhales
releasing on my inhales
tuned to what I could absorb as pain or heat
and what I needed to release as excess

She told me that
when she tries to focus
or to clear her mind
or to feel stable
she focuses on how her feet feel
and gathers energy from the earth

When she feels stress,
she tells herself, "Feel the earth, Beth. Feel the earth."

My feet are often in pain
because I am vain, and I love unreasonable shoes
or because the muscles in my arches cramp when I
move side to side (jumping jacks)
stand too long with my feet apart (triangle pose)
stand too long on one foot (tree pose)

Even though I was lying down
at that moment

I commanded my feet to
feel the earth:

feel that you have been bare for days
holding up a body that hasn't worn undergarments since you arrived
feel only the rubber of flipflops
the metal of a golf cart pedal

or sand

wet, hard sand
that absorbs the ocean's salt, cold, imperceptible lifeforms
and dry, dusty sand
warm from the sun, full of shells

walking across these earths
I have gathered energy
returned to salinity and balance
grounded myself
healed.