[Creative Nonfiction] Shoe Polish
Read the third-place entry for our week of April 20, 2025 prompt, The Shoes
Shoe Polish
by
My Grandpa shined his shoes every single Sunday.
I would watch him with a little black brush and polish.
He would scrub the sides and tops.
Using a cloth to wipe away the resin.
The shoe resting on his left hand as he polished with his right.
He said that shoes can tell you a lot about a person.
What they did, how and where they walked.
How much they cared for their appearance.
How much they noticed the small things, the details.
A man with dirty shoes surely had an unbalanced ledger.
A man with dirty shoes didn’t have time for God or family.
A man with dirty shoes didn’t make good biscuits.
A man with dirty shoes didn’t make good gravy.
He would wink at me when he said this because he made the best gravy.
A deacon at the church, he would pass the wooden offering plate and collect it again.
Over and over.
He did a lot of things over and over.
He stirred the gravy.
He served the gravy.
He passed the plate.
He collected the plate.
He polished his right shoe.
He polished his left shoe.
On repeat, every Sunday.
A Note From Our Guest Judge, Faiza S Khan
Again, this story used perspective in a really interesting way, building a character and their world with the most judicious use of the right details and through the eyes of an unreliable narrator, one who appears to believe everything grandpa says.
About
Rachel Turney is an educator and artist located in Denver. Her disappearing chapbook Europe in Black and White is available on Blood + Honey July and August 2025. bloodhoneylit.com
Blog: turneytalks.wordpress.com Instagram: @turneytalks Bluesky: @rachelturney
This piece was written in response to the prompt The Shoes.
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