Analysis of Presently missing

Sara Tolliday 1986 (Melrose, MA)



Dark eyeliner, big earrings, bright mauve lip
White crop and jeans, vintage silk jacket adds a pop of color
Make an appearance and make it count
Compliments feed the ego and the ego buys a round
Around and around
Laughter spills out of the body and fills the room
Conversations spiral, seemingly meaningful
Repetitive, unheard, words float above our heads and we try to grab them
Out of reach so we wait for more
Say it again and again
Laugh at the joke
Remark on the passerby
Side eye, smirk, and grimace
Gossip and complain
Take another sip
Roll your eyes and remember the conversation before
Oh yeah..
Laughter spills the drinks and the drinks flood the floor
It’s getting harder to walk, to listen, to find the words
Time to go
Turn up the music and turn down the lights
Spill more drinks and laughter
Are you here?
Have you left?
I come here, but not to stay
I leave as soon as I arrive
I am presently missing
I’ll keep coming here to disappear
I melt into the punch bowl floor filled with wading guests
All that’s left is my jacket
I wasn’t there but I went
Where have I gone?
I’m still here
I’m missing my jacket and the night


Scheme ABCDDEFGHIJKLMAHNHOPQBRSTUVWXYZ1 R2
Poetic Form
Metre 110110111 110110110101110 110100111 10010100010101 01001 101110100101 01010100100 0100011101101011111 11111111 1101001 1101 0110100 111010 10001 10101 1110010001001 11 10101001101 11010111101101 111 1101001101 111010 111 111 1111111 11111101 1110010 11101101 1101011111101 1111110 111111 1111 111 110110001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,177
Words 232
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 34
Lines Amount 34
Letters per line (avg) 26
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 899
Words per stanza (avg) 213

About this poem

I wrote this poem a week after I decided to stop drinking alcohol. Reading these words reminds me why I gave it up and encourages me to continue living a sober life. Presence is a gift and I never want to lose it again.

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Written on July 18, 2022

Submitted by Sara.tolliday86 on May 01, 2023

Modified by Sara.tolliday86 on November 11, 2023

1:09 min read
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    "Presently missing" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/161236/presently-missing>.

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