Cast-Off People Poem by Raj Dronamraju

Slip into the role
This role forced on you by another person who is of the same size
But somehow grew bigger than you
Now you're sloughed off like teardrops, sweat, dry skin

Cast off, you'll try to find new shelter
With a frantic fear that sees something greater than sundown
And in your loneliness you'll find you are invisible
As if your position and past history blots out your very being

Now he moves on and the barnacles cling
He is oblivious to their form of needsucking dependent relationship
He is not deliberate merely lumbering and clueless
On the other hand, she is the kind of girl who gravitated from pulling the wings off flies to pulling the hearts out of men

She casts off people but never quite gets rid of them
She keeps them in a bottom drawer
Occasionally, opening the drawer a crack to look at them

He says in a voice she won't hear
"You love the idea of yourself more than you love me"
Soon, you'll be left in a donation bin
Where someone else might take a chance on you
Usable, second-hand you
Not flashy, unexciting but capable you