Have You Seen This Man? Poem by Raj Dronamraju

They were a dedicated lot
Photocopying flyers until very late hours
Using PC's to upload his latest photo
Knocking on doors, posting flyers on telephone poles

He disappeared one day after dinner
He was answering questions and the next moment, there was nothing but silence
The space he ruled over still hugged his presence
But he no longer made a point of having to prove his existence

I know you by sight
You look the same whether it's in a self-induced coma or slipping out of the house through the back door
Everyone else is scattered throughout the neighborhood with flashlights, candles, holding hands and inquiring of strangers if they know of your whereabouts

Using such a literal approach, they will never find you
They could exhibit skin and bone if they wanted to
But that would be just the holding mechanism, composition of random trauma
In conflict with where you go and what you do

He couldn't tell you from an armchair
Where he'd gone
How they showed his face on the news
Self-preservation conducted an intervention and bundled him away
The point where it all went wrong is the point where it all went right