dear mystery man

A Poem by Taylor

A man I never knew.

it might have been easier if you were a ghost
you would be a closed case and I wouldn’t be left here wondering
what your favorite food was or if you liked reading as much as I do
I wouldn’t have to think of all the possibilities - that you could have been a radical
in your country, fighting for change and equality or maybe a drug lord who left before the authorities caught you

right now you could be anything
but if you were a ghost
I could look you up
I would know if you were a schoolteacher in a poor district
or an anthropologist studying the Bushmen of your country

but you are not a ghost
and I am left to sit here and wonder

are you a family man? do you have other children?
what are they like? where do you live?
do you know? did she tell you do you know?

if you know, why haven’t you found me?
are you the reason why I enjoy
sunshine and humidity and Caribbean foods?
you are an island girl
but am I really?

if you were a ghost,
this questions would be obsolete
my story would be engraved in stone
not susceptible to revising

but you are not a ghost