Control

when I don't hear from someone
for a while,
I assume the worst
and check the obits, the metro
section.
the daily news.
facebook.
incarcerated, perhaps.
inebriated, maybe.
locked up
in a straight jacket, could be.
maybe they've jumped off
a bridge,
or did themselves in
with chocolate,
or gone for a one way
swim ala virginia woolf,
or taken
the Sylvia plath route
of baking themselves
in the oven,
minus heat,
but usually they aren't dead,
though they threatened
quite often to
do themselves in,
they're just indisposed,
or lazy,
or sick in bed.
or perhaps playing a mind
game.
still in control of what
gets heard
or said. I smile and laugh,
knowing the answer.