Missing Person

At tax time I discharge my obligation
To whatever grateful nation
Is inclined to let me be

Myself I arouse no interest
My correspondents are computers
That sense an affinity

My calls are all wrong numbers
For a stranger named Maurice
Who’s not at all like me

Yesterday I returned from traveling
(But where could I have been)
My mailbox moldy my phone at liberty

If only that dog would stop barking
I’d be able to write in peace
My subject anonymity

After a while I’ll phone somebody
To find out who I am
I wonder who I’ll be

In America a lonely man
Can always report himself missing
It’s what they mean by free

3/16-4/29/95, 7/19/96, 5/28/97, 6/10/98

Copyright 1995, 1998 by Maurice Leiter

Posted with permission.