Isaac Salazar

Footnotes

Left Foot	Right Foot
Men have always liked my feet.	My feet have always liked the mouths of men,
They ask for pictures, sometimes,	as though my feet were a godly tourist attraction,
the arch, the heel, the little toes	some shrine they had driven all night to see.
I never know what to do with this attention.	My feet know exactly what to do with attention.
They pose themselves without shame.	They turn toward whatever is hungry.
Once, a man said my feet were beautiful.	Once, my feet believed him.
I looked down at them, embarrassed.	They looked back at me, almost amused.
What could they possibly know	about the men who kneel before them?
Men have always liked my feet.	My feet have always liked being wanted.
I used to think this was a strange thing to inherit.	Now I think every body inherits a hunger.
Mine just happens to begin at the ankle.	Mine just happens to know where the mouth begins.

 

Isaac Salazar (he/him) is an Austin-born and Houston-based poet. A winner of the 2025 Michelle Boisseau Poetry Prize, his poems have been published or forthcoming in AGNI, Asterales, Bear Review, Hayden’s Ferry, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, West Trade Review, and West Branch, among others. He is a graduate student at Rice University. (Instagram: @eyesac_saladbar)

 

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