Paper

It never goes how you think it will.
That much is given.
But if you don’t let go—releasing
control—it won’t take off at all.

Forget what looks good on paper.

Forget the mounds of logistics
burying you like paperwork.

Forget the litany of self-betrayals
that sting like papercuts.

Forget how battered you may feel,
like a secondhand mass-market
paperback tossed carelessly
into too many bags, pages dog-eared,
spine creased from bending over
backwards to please others.

Remember only the sensation
you’ve felt in your dreams—
how incredible it feels to fly.