The Shadow Inventory Poem by Raj Dronamraju

I took something that would have been better left behind
For scavengers so desperate their ribs show through their skin
When I take stock of this acquisition, it's not done through normal channels
All paperwork is printed out in single copy only and the counting up is done at night

I know there is two of everything
That which I can confirm by eyesight, by other senses
And that which I know is being held somewhere
Waiting for truth to be paid as ransom
Setting the pattern for each subsequent loss
Depreciation follows

At a sunrise greeting, I am smiling and recording the morning's transactions
There are two sets of books and later in darkness I put entries in the other
There is no order immune from a split between a public front and a private trauma kept catalogued in Dewey decimal disassociation
Poor patience is the thinnest threadbare reward for this fractured effort
Waiting for a revelation terrifying in the number of its indexed sections

To you I would say what is it that is ready for ambush at this shining moment of self-clarity?
To you I would say until this moment where did you keep this unhealthy replicating schism?
To you I would add what was the cost of that action, that unsupervised subterfuge?