Leaving Somewhere For Nowhere (Poetry)

Leaving somewhere for nowhere I was hopeful
I could lose myself — cast off this someone for another
no one knows and find a place where strangers
keep themselves to themselves and imagine
I might be anyone of a million people
with a different name from mine.

Arriving nowhere from somewhere I’ve already forgotten
I wanted to feel anonymous but not transparent —
like I have no shadow.

Here no one notices me on purpose — they seem
unfriendly towards outsiders — they shun me
as if they suspect I might be on the run from something
and using a false identity.

Staying nowhere as a nobody is far harder
than anybody would think it should be
when the person in the mirror won’t look back at me
and I’m not sure if I should answer when no one
ever knocks on doors of houses where I never lived.

I’ve left behind the reason I exist.