The Missing

the grad student in Oakland,

the New Jersey housewife,

the guitar hero in Chicago,

the unemployed Utah choir boy,

 

disparate people from

disparate places all

with one thing in common,

 

into the ether they went,

 

members of the disappearance class,

 

mysteries that become history,

 

a narrative without closure

for the onlookers and the

one directly affected but

for the few that look for it,

 

the plight of the missing

is just one person leaving

in a time and place where

the same interactions

occur over and over again,

 

a single stop at the

box store cash register,

 

no theme, no resolution,

 

just start of transaction,

middle of transaction,

end of transaction,

 

just here one moment

and gone the next

like Dave Matthews'

satellite or Nillson's

spaceman,

 

the gamer from Massachusetts,

the runner from Texas,

 

they are the classmates

that are never seen again,

 

it's one of the side

effects of living, and

like all bountiful species,

adaptation to current

circumstances is the

driving force,

 

disappearances may leave

holes that can't be filled,

and life marches on regardless

 

that is cold comfort

but it's comfort nonetheless

Reviews

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

It seems as though we have all become a statistic of some kind... we treat each other like a number rather then a name. The state of humanity is on life support.

[Kenneth The Poet]

Isn't that the truth.

[Neva Flores Smith - Cha..]

Not sure if you mean they actually physically are missing or if you mean they are just no longer in your life and you have no idea what has come of them. Well done.

[Kenneth The Poet]

I tend to think of the physically missing as no longer being in one's life. People tend to adapt that kind of trauma as they do when a loved one passes away. That's the point of the piece I think. Thanks, Neva.

[Neva Flores Smith - Changefulstorm]

Thank you so much for explaining my friend. Good to see you