I can still remember that day 
in San Francisco, on Columbus
just down from City Lights Books,
a young man sitting on a milk crate
another in front of him on which
he perched an old typewriter.
“A dollar buys you a poem”
he said with a mix of hope
and resignation, his fingers poised 
over the worn keys, their letters
fading as was his ribbon.
I produced a bill and he set
to typing, although I do not
recall his words, when he 
was done I handed him a five.
He seemed in shock, so I said
“I am a fellow poet, but my 
Royal Standard died years ago.”
He was about to reply when he
saw another potential customer
and I moved on down the block.

Louis Faber is a poet and blogger.  His work has appeared in Cantos, The Poet (U.K.), Alchemy Spoon, New Feathers Anthology, Dreich (Scotland), Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Defenestration, Atlanta Review,  Glimpse, Rattle, Pearl, The South Carolina Review and Worcester Review, among many others, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.