Paper Wings

I want to carry the words

that read small on paper

but leave the deepest impressions on people.

The persistent words found on

shower curtains and bedroom ceilings,

their scrawled letters absorbing

into wet skin

and flickering in darkness.

I want to carry the words

rarely gifted to me like golden stars and

the ones spoken to me in abundance.

I want to carry these profound words

because they are strung together by people

who give them meaning,

and I am carried by their ink.

-A.J