Being Lonely
We closed down the bar
went back to my place and did the
usual things
at about 4 in the morning I said
I am going to bed now
but she wasn’t sleepy and stayed up
to watch movies
and hours later climbed into bed
she tossed and turned and made funny noises
and when the sun came up we were both still awake
and she started asking questions like
did I believe in past lives
and fairies and horoscopes
and I told her I didn’t believe in much
of anything
and that I was very sleepy
and she told me I had an interesting nose
and that my hands were small and asked
if I was always this quiet
and I said yes I was
and she asked me why I didn’t talk much
and I told her that I didn’t have much to say
and that I was very sleepy
she said she was hungry
and I said I didn’t have any food
but she persisted so I stole an apple
from my housemate
then she found some of my poems
and read them and asked me
what they meant and I told her I didn’t
know
then she found my guitar
and sat on my bed and played a Celtic song
and sang in a cracked and heavy voice about fairies
and past lives
and I said that’s nice but I am very very
sleepy and have to go to work soon
and she played another song
and then another
and then a few more
and finally stopped and turned on
my computer to check her mail
she talked to the screen as she read her mail
and then I took a shower
and when I came out of the shower
she was still there and asked if I wanted a ride
to work and I said no
no thank you I will walk
and I took her number and told her I would call
and as I watched her car disappear
around a corner
the world seemed a much better place
and I suddenly remembered that being lonely
wasn’t as bad
as a lot of things
Page(s) 12-13
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The