A BRIEF HISTORY OF FLIGHT ❋ Natalie Wee

It is known that nothing
is wanted
the way the unknown
is wanted.

Scarcity is the first
ingredient of beauty.
For me tenderness
was religion

so close to heaven
it was untouchable
Prayers in subways
halls and streets

like solitude
was only a ghost
awaiting exorcism.

I thought everything
was a stairway to
some promised land.
Fingers learning

scripture of newfound
bodies, mouth
drinking holy
water to stem some

impossible thirst
even angels
could not satisfy.
Until I learned

the path of flight
required only
one body at a time.

Which is to say
I spent so long
trying to be held

I forgot how
to hold myself.