Middleness

An in-between implies another suggests an
other sibling a sister who gets under
your nerves for telling your father you snuck
out of the house; and the young one, your brother
who sits with that smile and charm that makes you forget
the jam he spilt all over the aisle just moments before
But alas!
for I do not tattle nor spill any goods,
mostly unnoticed but always alive, I live in the middle of sequence

And when you’re angry or triggered
when someone merges to your lane
it’s never your pinky, for he’s gone
to market or your thumb who’s too
tired from scrolling and tapping
one waits for a band, while the other is famous
but we have no name for the one who boasts all the height
for it’s defined by nails on either side
central and useless, a finger resides in the middle of proximity

And when inscribing documents of utmost importance
with letters so tiny you must search for
your glasses for freshly printed pages
and ink blots who linger, it asks for my full legal name
Of course!
essential to democracy, and the fulfillment of
contracts, I eagerly scribe the name of which I do not frequently use
the name which is often reduced to a letter, forgotten altogether,
hidden from those who don’t know me intently, intimately,
essential but hidden, a name that proclaims the middle of importance

And when we’re past our prime
beyond the age where our friends all get married
and go out to the bars to see a new show
but not yet wise and respected
with grandchildren to spoil and
checkers to play rather I spend
my days thinking of the car I should buy
or the vacation I would take
I am close to a crisis for occupying the middle of time

But the most confusing of all
is when I am so far in-between that I cannot perceive
an edge of a volume or the presence of mass
instead I see nothing for miles and miles
just fields of corn that feed all the cows
and nourish my body all lined up
in nice little rows
in the middle of nowhere