He says I don’t mean to startle

you, but could you read this

for me? as he hands me a crumpled

piece of grey paper with a website

address written on it. I spell out

the address letter by letter, dot by

dot. He echoes each letter and writes

the address in large, legible characters

on the front page of a newspaper. Thanks,

man. My eyes are no good. I can’t read

print that small anymore he says as he

walks away. Back to his shopping cart

filled with a clutch of plastic grocery

bags. His head capped by a yellow

construction helmet with a single black

feather hanging from the back. A feather

that tries and tries and tries to take flight. 

~ Previously published in Flutter (February 2007)