All of my friends are lonely

Notes from the inside

This inner world

we show each other these as best as we can,

trying not to miss anything important

if I’m not paying attention,

you may slip. I can’t catch you

If I don’t know where you’ve gone, inside.

We rescue ourselves and this is understood,

but the fact that I want to have expressed that–

am invested in your retrieval from the rough edge of the landscape

I’ve only mapped with your clues, over coffee, with a mutual friend

In time: thinking of you is what holds you back like a balcony railing from that void

at the unimagined fringe on the plane you’ve traveled.

Scarier still than our share world, for it is pure darkness

All my friends are lonely

because what is inside is so vibrant

and outside there is no time

but what we can spare for each other

a care, a blessing, a pity

– August 6, 2019