If Paper Planes Had Wings

On #Day4 of #NaPoWriMo at #ArtoonsInn #PoetryParlour I wrote not one but two poems for the prompt 'Paper planes'.

The first poem is an ode to my Dad who we lost just a few weeks ago.

If Paper Planes Had Wings

I pull them
out of creaking cupboards
your belongings
the clothes, the documents

I run my fingers on the dusty album
the pictures, black and white
posed in a photo studio and
candids, captured impromptu

a loving wife, a doting mother clicked
a curious child, an indulgent father
sprawled on the carpeted floor
making planes of the day's newspaper

crinkling their eyes against the warm sun
laughing at the startled birds
marveling at the plane's flight
rushing to catch it as it descends

every little detail is intact
in the crumbling, fading pictures
alas! only you are not here amidst us
you left us forever, mid-flight

if paper planes had wings, I would
send thousands soaring to the heavens
to tell you how much you are loved
how much I miss you, Dad.



And the second is a Haiku.

paper planes soar high
childhood, friends, school...memories
long dead, sprinted past