Locus Quero

Proof of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki inheritance:
Darkened shadow people burned onto sidewalks-
So unbelievable that living beings could turn
Into mere shades of what they once were.
But what about all the insubstantial, missing people
Still occupied within themselves: in nursing homes,
And asylums; and in cold, tingling
Elixirs with the foreign sounding names in sculpted bottles?
They can’t subside into the sidewalks
Or penetrate through stoney walls.
Breathing’s all that keeping them fixed in place here.
Straight-jacketed and handcuffed,
Hallucinating in abject self-annihilation,
They stumble through my dreams at night,
Their shifty eyeballs come unhinged,
Leaning against me dropping excuses, justifications;
Bumbling unexcusedly, over my rapid eye movements,
Prisoners always seeking an escape valve,
An outlet, a detour to anywhere but home.
Maybe in the next world too 

They will still be hunting for the exit signs. 

Maybe I will be the pied piper there, too;
So that they will keep following me because they think
That I know something about travelling,
And paths and destinations.
But they would be fools.