Another new poem...

Paper Plane

(for Simon Armitage and his book ‘Paper Aeroplane’)




When I was a kid

I once made a paper plane

that was so big

I went for a ride on it.




What happened was that

I was at the park

and I threw it

and as I let go of it

I jumped on it.




I flew over the bit

where we played football

and then over the pond

with the island in the middle.

What was great was the way

people looked up at me

and waved.




I loved the way they waved.

It made me feel really good

the way they waved.

The day hadn’t been good

up till then.

I had had an arithmetic test.

It didn’t go very well.




The landing wasn’t too good though.

The plane came down hard

and crumpled.

You know how paper crumples up.

That’s what happened.




I wasn’t what you might say was ‘hurt’.

Just a bit shaken up.




Some people came over and

asked me if I was alright.

I said, ‘Yeah, I’m fine.’

Someone said, ‘You’re not going

to leave all that paper there, are you,

sonny?’

I shrugged.

A woman helped me crumple it up

really small

and we put it in

a bin.




Then I went home.




My dad said,

‘How did the arithmetic test go?’

‘Not too good,’ I said.