loneliness

by

it’s not always obvious…

it's not always obvious

stopped
by
aunt bea’s
to
deliver
some
costco items
she
had asked for
i told aunt bea
that
i had
had
a very
interesting conversation
with
an elderly woman
who was in
one of those
electric shopping carts
the kind
with
a small basket
in front
which seemed to me
to be
ill-suited
for
a warehouse market
a market
that
generally
sells supersize items
and
that basket couldn’t
have held more
than
two or three
of
anything
but
we had a nice visit
however
i said to aunt bea
i still can’t
figure out
why
she just didn’t
order the items online
and
have them delivered
aunt bea
smiled
and
said
maybe she wasn’t
shopping
for
any particular item
but for
what you provided

 

 

by

all the lonely people…

as if
things weren’t
bad enough
a pandemic
leaving
blank page
days
as
the daily fare
a forced diet
of
silence
it’s
not that
i
crave
wordy
desserts
piled high
with
nonsensical
phrases
of
sweet compliments
or
mundane platitudes
used
to
fill the empty void
of
uncomfortable social silence
no
what
i’m concerned about
are
the
mind locked people
sitting alone
well
stranded
at
home
with nothing more
than
netflix
or
appletv
as
their companion
as
entertaining
as
that may be
it isn’t
a substitute
for
feeling the pulse
of
another human
either
kinesthetically
or
metaphorically
through
their eyes
no
it’s
father mckenzie
writing words
of
a sermon
no one
will hear
nor
care
about
it’s
the sadness
of
forced solitude
where
even the start
of
the new day
offers
little
hope