He is a stranger to me.
And I am coming to realize
the fact of the matter isn’t
that he still loves me,
“he is just too busy to call” –
at least that’s what I’ve been told.
The fact of the matter is
that he doesn’t care
and that he has given up.
Yet I find myself wondering
what he is doing at any given moment in time.
Does he lay in bed and think about me?
Does he think about me when anything significant in life happens?
Am I even on his mind at all?
WORDS FROM THE AUTHOR
Madi Hansen
“Michael is a Stranger” is something that I have been dealing with, and thinking about for a long time, and is a piece that is very important to me. I have an emotional connection and bond to the person it is about, and I wanted to create something that people can relate to when they have lost someone in their life in ways other than death. I know that I write some of my best poems/stories when it is something emotional for me, or when it is a sense that I can feel. With that in mind, I wrote and edited this to convey my feelings about this person whom I hold in my heart.
REVISION DECISION
This was originally about a paragraph long, and wouldn’t have made much sense to anyone other than me. It was the topic was the same, but my thoughts and feelings were intermingling, which took away from the message I was trying to convey. I worked it down to the more controlling feelings I had and put it into stanzas. My overall goal was to reduce it down to something anyone can look at and understand or have a connection with.
I appreciated your explanation about focusing on creating something people can relate to. As I read it at first, I didn’t relate to it strongly but I did think, “This is something I know a lot of people can really relate to.” Then I read your statement and thought, “You made that clear!” When I read the piece again, I noticed the recurring ” the fact of the matter is” lines and wondered if you had other facts versus feelings to add? Or what “facts of the matter” there are that you would say about YOU. Thank you for sharing this piece.
Your words drew me in, yes many people can relate to this kind of loss and loneliness. In a way, this is an emotional mirror text like a pathway to empathy. I found myself wondering who is Michael and I really love the mystery of that wonder. Then I wondered about the “I” in the poem and how that could be anyone. There are so many people in the world. A writer’s job is to make their audience think and feel. You did both. Keep writing.