Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Pexels.com
what use words
when loneliness fills
wells long in drought
where the only wet thing
wipes ink on the page
while we die of thirst
waiting.
Tag Archives: loneliness
ICED OUT
Staying set apart is not so rare.
Children who are different
in whatever way offends
the most common denominator
understand and try to make amends
to be included, and not excluded
from the play, the party, the repartee
alongside lockers and desks
and walking home, along the way.
Isolation ices out those different.
Being together used to be
celebration enough for me.
Isolation even after immunization
and boosters brings PTSD
from past to present imagination.
Birthdays and weddings,
funerals and christenings
are no longer safe
for those like me.
Isolation ices out those different.
Cupcakes delivered to the door,
invitations to celebrations where new histories are born
leave those unable to attend forlorn.
We lose not only today’s events
but the connection to friends and family
forged from the past to new futures
where our existence remains unseen.
We are isolated from not only today
but from every tomorrow’s remembrance.
Isolation ices out those different.
Filed under POLITICS
THE UKNOWN KNOWN
I just did not know.
Not everyone
thinks at the same rate,
sees as deeply or wide,
looks for each new thing,
embraces the unknowable.
Seeking the unknown
quickly, deeply, widely, freely
without knowing
this is so
means exploring life
alone.
I
just
did
not
know.
Filed under POETRY
GOOSE WALK
Walking with the geese each day
affords a few moments to play.
Strolling along the nearby ponds,
thoughts open my mind as they may.
The gaggle has broken apart
as lovers seek their true heart.
Two-by-two they pair readily.
Even geese know courting requires privacy.
Across the pond they sail,
their wake leaving a lovers’ trail
on their way to domesticity.
Soon goslings will follow
where gander allows.
Later, though flight wings have grown
young geese are not on their own.
The gaggle regroups and once it has flown.
I shall walk the pond all alone.
Filed under POLITICS
GAWKING UKRAINE
Gawkers run to scenes
which stir the blood.
Existential fear draws them on
and eases their souls.
For a moment they
forget they are always
alone.
Always, in all ways.
Finding companionship
wherever they may,
they push loneliness away
and hide their fear
in jeers and cheers.
Sincerity is often lost
in their witnessed strife,
so much a part of life.
Watching without charity
while claiming solidarity
with those who suffer
is never enough to unite us,
to overcome our aloneness.
Those who suffer await more
than witnessing and words.
Action speaks louder than words.
Weapons speak louder during war.
Zelensky clearly explains
“I need ammunition, not a ride.”
He humbly sets aside pride
to admit what we all know.
He is alone,
like all Ukrainians,
like each of us.
Opening boundaries
among nations and hearts
is a good start.
We will remain alone
no matter how much we gawk
unless we do more to atone,
more to end suffering and war
we will always stand alone.
Filed under POETRY
The Sounds Of Isolation
The silence is too loud.
Thoughts scream across empty space,
then follow me to bed at night
where cacaphonous dreams replace rest
and solitudinous slumber.
Limbs collide amidst the din of broad strokes
across swollen heart strings
screeching a loud lament.
Reeds explode in pressured bursts of pain,
pealing shouts across my brow.
Constant drumming throbs a meandering beat
unbalancing my feet and mind
with words best left unsaid.
Isolation breaks the rhythm of silent speech.
Music bounces off the walls of my retreat
to this empty, safe and un-crowned house.
The silence is too loud.
I cannot hear my self think my thoughts.
The lyrics repeat the same phrase
over and over and over.
When will this end so we can begin again
to dance in the streets?
And meet for brunch before the matinee ?
When can we say, “See you later today” ?
The silence is too loud.
Filed under POETRY
Reflection on the Lonely Artist
The lonely artist is not a fiction but a prediction
of the lonely lover
awaiting to discover
who we are.
I do not know you, do I ?
How could I when I do not yet know myself?
I see you. I hear you.
You are there.
In your eyes I see myself
as a reflection,
with it inherent loss of my full energy
and being, lost in your gaze.
This leaves me lost and dazed.
All you give me is a reflection of myself.
It is not enough.
It lacks your energy. Your being
you keep for yourself,
leaving me alone, grasping air.
Perhaps this is why we choose
to love only those who appear
most like our selves.
Disenchanted when all we are
able to embrace
is the reflected self.
Give me your true self.
Give me your art
not something set apart,
but different from me.
This is the value of diversity.
This love beyond self
only comes when we see
more than our own reflection,
are given new energy,
the energy of you.
Fear keeps us apart.
We fear knowing who we are.
We fear knowing who you are.
Fearing if we love you,
we will only see
our lessened selves.
Filed under POETRY
