Paper Planes Don’t Cry, But I Do

ALT

There’s something about a paper plane stuck on a storm drain that hits harder than it should.

Maybe it’s the angle of the streetlamp — soft and too golden for a place this damp.

Maybe it’s the way the puddle doesn’t just reflect light — it reflects effort.

A folded dream, crumpled mid-flight.

Some kid threw this. That’s the part I can’t stop thinking about.

Maybe they aimed for the stars. Maybe just across the street.

Maybe it flew beautifully for half a second — enough to earn a grin —

and then, fate plus physics, it nosedived into this wet little grave.

It’s sitting there like a ghost of intention. Not tragic, just… paused.

Like it could still take off if the wind said sorry.

Tonight I walked past it three times.

I don’t know why I kept circling. Maybe I was waiting for it to move.

Or maybe part of me felt like that little plane —

mostly fine, just a bit soggy, unsure if I’m grounded or just on hold.

I didn’t touch it.

But I hope it dries.

I hope someone picks it up and tries again.

x

• There are definitely different types of rain that might be based on the color of the sky at the time the showers occur
• The soft, light grey days
• Dark grey-blue nights with billowing, threatening clouds
• Dark blue where it’s almost like there are no clouds at all because the sky is covered completely by these near texture-less clouds
• Nighttime rain, black rain, where you probably don’t even see it because you’re asleep before you really hear the rain at all
• Early morning rain where damn it! you just missed it… it’s gray, but it’s different. Maybe the sun’s starting to rise but no yellow or orange has really hit yet, maybe it’s still dark and right when you get to your destination, the sun’s puddle-y reflections blind you. You look back at the sun and see it hitting past the far away mountains, perhaps it’s barely past the horizon. The rest of the day is cold and beautiful
• The weird times when it sprinkles in summer in one specific spot for no reason. You bet that you could even walk the whole diameter that the drizzle hit the ground, but you know for sure that the spots where the rain droplets hit have already evaporated.
• Knowing that the way it rains a night before it will be foggy in the morning 

Matty Bovan SS19

[id: Photo of a garage sale sign in a patch of grass by the side of the road, near a guardrail. The sign says, “Almost as cheap as dumpster diving!” Nearby there is a car and a person standing next to a bicycle. End id.]