I linger on the outside of everywhere. I am a skulker, a bone shucker, a fraud.  I slip behind curtains, under floorboards, into panes of glass that mute my words.  I am awkward and stumble more than I stand tall.  I am late to the gathering, last to get the joke, the one in the corner feeling confused.  I am hollow, looking for substance, failing.  I am fleeting, a pale representation, a liar.  I am a nail biter torn to the quick.  I am clamor and catastrophe in the flick of a switch.  You are my captor, my captivator, my annihilator.  You are the steely grip of an unblinking gaze.  You are my habit, my protector, you pull the strings.  I will always surrender.  You will always win.