Suitable Footwear

Suitable Footwear catalogues one of the ways in which, even from early childhood, something as innocuous- seeming as shoes can end up reinforcing gender stereotypes. Tess Jolly applies the same eye for detail to the poems in her debut collection Breakfast at the Origami Café ( Blue Diode, £ 10); poems that mix troubled memories of childhood with the anxieties and observations inspired by new parenthood.

Stitched well from good leather boys’ shoes are designed for exploring forests. They are primed for the great outdoors. With their sturdy soles and strong laces you will not be tripped and bruised by roots or learn to struggle, ankle- deep in lashes. They won’t snap at your heels and cause you to falter. You will not strain your toes keeping them on or conclude it’s easier not to move at all. You will not feel obliged to consider the beauty of your undergarments or to choose a material so thin it denies its existence. The shoes for boys have room for growth. They won’t pinch your skin with their clever angles, elegant arches. They are not defined by the quality of their lustre, by attractive ways they catch the light.

It’s much easier to dance or run away with more than a stiletto to balance on.

It’s much easier to fight. The shoes for boys are reinforced in the colours of warfare. They say important things with big tongues.

You can reserve a copy of Breakfast at the Origami Cafe by Tess Jolly at the Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Edinburgh, which has now reopened and is operating a ‘ Click and Collect’ service, www. scottishpoetrylibrary. org. uk.