John Dorsey

Anything with Feathers

my grandfather taught me
how to shoot at empty beer cans
how to laugh
when things got tough

he hated banks
& doctors

loved chocolate covered cherries
chipped ham & potato chips on sundays

when they chopped off his legs
he started making hook rugs
with ducks in every pattern
until his vision went

even then
sometimes he would close his eyes
real tight

& flap his arms

up & down

up & down

he was donald duck
he was charles lindbergh

he slept with one eye open
in a hospital bed
in the middle of his living room

he squeezed my hand
& told me not to work too hard
it wasn’t worth it

he said anything with feathers
could fly.