can you see me?

take a break from your busy world

look into my eyes

can you see me?

but to you

I'm just another face in the crowd

that guy you see in the grocery mart

or standing in line for a bank teller

just another nobody who yearns to be somebody

do you see me?

do you know what I feel when I return your curious gaze

maybe you're just like me

lost in the hassle of the day-to-day

wishing someone would pay attention

giving an unrehearsed smile

locking eyes in recognition and acknowledgement

then I might see you and you might see me

even if only for a moment or two

but no one looks anymore

no one notices the world outside the bubble of me

or the gated realm of us

I'm reduced to pouring out my heart on the page

a scribbler of dreams and lies

maybe you will recognize me in the white spaces

dancing abstractly through my words

or maybe you'll see a reflection of yourself

in my imagined worlds

can you see the yearning stirred like ashes in my poesy

or the heartbreak in the quiet cadence of my verse?

I no longer dream of fame

I no longer dream of glory

I write to tell my story to an audience of one

even when veiled by gilded metaphor and gossamer symbol

my life hidden in plain sight

are you listening?

can you see me yet?

then you already understand

I don't want to be remembered

I want to be known