Do You Have a Greek Foot?

Splayed legs with visible toes
in the Waterways photograph*
make me check — do I see
a Greek, Egyptian,
or square foot?

The great toe is as long as 
the second.  Seems square.
A Greek foot sports a longer
second toe, the Egyptian foot
a more prominent great toe.

Because ancient Egyptian feet 
were sculpted mostly in profile, 
the big toe looms longest.  
Even so, many Egyptian statues 
possess Greek feet. 

I recall the Boxer at Rest,
the 3rd century BC Hellenistic bronze 
of a boxer after a brutal fight.
Found in 1885, the pugilist’s right foot
reveals his second toe to be
a tad longer than the first.

The Romans — never to be outdone
by slaves, or artistic models —
carved mostly all their statues 
with Greek feet.  

Have you looked at your toes yet?

Published in Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream
January 2022, 42:7, p. 8