Vanished

Have you ever felt you don’t exist?

That’s how I feel most of the time 

Like if you tried to grab my wrist

Your hand would pass right through 

And in your mind a thought would chime

What happened to the man I knew?

I just can’t seem to force my heart

To buy the perpetual lie,

I'll never populate the chart

Compiled by those overlords

Who pick apart data to try 

To dominate the hordes,

And I certainly won’t ever wear

A label upon my lapel,

So, am I really there,

Is obstinance a remedy for rue?

I ponder in my private hell

What happened to the man I knew?

Sit!

I looked up and howled

“Please end this slump!”

The universe growled 

Like a dog in a dump

I looked down and sighed 

My chances quite small 

To calm this canine

With no leash at all.

Outlier

Intensely aware 

Of the microscope's glare

He stays on his own little slide

Away from the germs

And uncertain terms

Where others tend to reside

If he must interact 

He keeps an exact

Extension of distance between

Himself and the lot

So anxious to plot

A way to be rude or obscene

Mutations occur

And boundaries blur

As data reveals hidden trends

He'll study it all

Through his test tube wall

Until the experiment ends.

Sparse

The longest day, when light should linger 

Suddenly turned dark

And nothing could eliminate the pall

Which made it hard to place a finger

Anywhere near the mark

Of what had dimmed that twenty-four carat ball.

I stood upon a hemisphere

That currently was warm

But knew tomorrow shivers would arrive

Another less-than-fruitful year

I guess it’s just the norm

To forfeit more the longer you survive.