Learning to Read

See this—this is the first letter of your first word.

To me, it means running. To you, something else.

This letter means flight:

a bird,

a machine, the timed exit in the middle of the night, the knock on the wall,

the broken lock.

This one is a scar, this one a fresh cut.

This one: a fall into the fire, accidental, and you screamed for hours but

really you’re still a small boy.

This one at the bottom of the page is sweetness.

In the corner, rescue, and below it, history.

The last one is a door, only for you, and behind it

one more, so small you can’t read it, meaning not yet.

So you take it, and pass it on.