How to Be Ignored

1) Fade

Lie in the sun until your color is muted, until you are no longer vibrant

Repeat several weeks

Now stand against the wall

Does he notice?

2) Don’t say a word unless he speaks (and he won’t speak) your name

He’ll rattle off friends like I rattle off medications but you won’t find your name among them

Maybe a brief pause like he is forgetting somebody but no, he can’t be

And surely, it can’t be the friend who has written him endless poems

3) Stop texting him

Watch the relationship die like a fire,

Every hopeful ember

Think of a shop putting a sign on the door:

“We are now closed”

4) Respect the sign and retreat, even though inside

You hear the distinct you are aching

No one has invited you and no one will because no one can remember

You are a phantom all the way back to your car

5) Write a poem about being ignored to reassure yourself

That not everyone ignores you. Just those one (or two) special people

“I’m sorry but we are now closed”