by Kenton K. Yee
Alicia Navarro, 18, was said to be upset following an FBI raid on the apartment where she had been living in with an unidentified man in Havre, Montana. —Mail Online, August 1, 2023
after Wallace Stevens
I
In the still, the most moving thing
is an empty chair.
II
Suspicion spreads like wildfire smoke.
Murder and suicide are likely.
Murder, suicide, abduction, and ghosting are likely.
III
What is it that captivates us so,
the how or the why,
what happened or that it could happen to anyone?
IV
Memories of the missing linger
like shadows of headstones on fresh snow.
V
I know what the stats say and
I know you must investigate your leads.
I know, too, that nothing’s as it first appears.
So disheveled men in wrinkled suits,
why do you fixate on the husband?
Didn’t you watch that movie?
VI
[—missing—]
VII
People are vanishing,
some to new identities.
She’s probably cruising Canada in a Mercedes,
missing the little girl and big boy she left behind.
VIII
People vanish and people appear
like shadows of headstones.
Please, at least let your parents know you’re okay.
In the still, the most moving thing
is an empty chair.
II
Suspicion spreads like wildfire smoke.
Murder and suicide are likely.
Murder, suicide, abduction, and ghosting are likely.
III
What is it that captivates us so,
the how or the why,
what happened or that it could happen to anyone?
IV
Memories of the missing linger
like shadows of headstones on fresh snow.
V
I know what the stats say and
I know you must investigate your leads.
I know, too, that nothing’s as it first appears.
So disheveled men in wrinkled suits,
why do you fixate on the husband?
Didn’t you watch that movie?
VI
[—missing—]
VII
People are vanishing,
some to new identities.
She’s probably cruising Canada in a Mercedes,
missing the little girl and big boy she left behind.
VIII
People vanish and people appear
like shadows of headstones.
Please, at least let your parents know you’re okay.
Author’s Note: The two ongoing news stories about missing young women (Alicia Navarro and Carlee Russell) reappearing—Navarro after 4 years—caused me to think about why we (and the media) are so captivated by missing-person stories. According to the DoJ's NamUS database, over 600,000 US residents go missing every year, which far outnumber the 4,400 unidentified bodies turning up each year. This suggests that most of the missing are either abducted and still alive or running away and adopting new identities of their own volition.
Kenton K. Yee’s recent poems appear (or will soon) in Plume Poetry, Threepenny Review, TAB Journal, BoomerLitMag, Sugar House Review, Terrain.org, Rattle, Matter Monthly, Hawaii Pacific Review, and The New Verse News among others. Kenton writes from Northern California.