HOW TO DISAPPEAR


First rehearse the easy things.
Lose your words in a high wind,
walk in the dark on an unlit road,
observe how many people mislay keys,
their diaries, new umbrellas.
See what it takes to go unnoticed
in a crowded room. Tell lies:
I love you. I’ll be back in half an hour.
I’m fine.

Then childish things.
Stand very still behind a tree,
become a cowboy, say you’ve died,
climb into wardrobes, breath on a mirror
until there’s no one there, and practise magic,
tricks with smoke and fire –
a flick of the wrist and the victim’s lost
his watch, his wife, his ten pound note. Perfect it.
Hold your breath a little longer every time.

The hardest things.
Eat less, much less, and take a vow of silence.
Learn the point of vanishing, the moment
embers turn to ash, the sun falls down,
the sudden white-out comes.
And when it comes again – it will –
just walk at it, walk into it, and walk,
until you know you’re no longer
anywhere.

~Amanda Dalton


(photo: Julia Dunin-Brzezinska saligia.deviantart.com/portfolio/)