They disappeared from my regime
when I say rule means simply directing traffic
the standard issue architecture
what’s called my way of doing things has ended
now I wear the costume of the dispossessed
despite all the possessions
I went up to Northern Maine
my mother was born near Presque Isle
in Van Buren and New York was
quieter when I returned
especially those water towers atop
buildings and the lonely pigeon coops
I have a history of persecuting with flattery
I tell you it’s good
it’s a form of recruitment
that backfires
I never dreamed
of course not that kind of dreaming
just the one when everybody
goes to sleep
anyway I’m known in the lobby
of the redoubt by the staff
they like me
someone informed me
everyone’s not me
it’s no way to be
Jai Alai
hi lie
be a good sport
just validate me this one time
and I’ll never ask for it again
the Japanese dancer
whose father was a general
you also gave me the novel about
a sadistic serial killer
working the suburbs of Tokyo
before I never heard from you again
some people vanish before you get
to know them
the writer who binge drank and
disappeared from his family for days
Harvard and all
he had a good story
he refused to talk to you
just because you didn’t know him
he and you
one of those people
believe me it still hurts
I passed the old Bradley’s on University
the ghost of Albert’s French restaurant
with its Eiffel Tower out front
realistic rendering of the Cedar in the ’50s
the bumptious abstract expressionists
who stalked the Village
prehistoric race of
oafs who disappeared during
the Ice Age
Pan Cogito
turns out wanting to know
is my tragic flaw
got dog
departed
you said you recognized the luggage because of all the tags
or maybe they were never here
Francis Levy is a Wainscott resident. The Italian translation of his novel “Erotomania” will be released in September. His novel “The Wormhole Society” will be released in October, along with a graphic novel version illustrated by Joseph Silver.