I am away from my computer

for Nancy – happy birthday

It is always lonely online.

There are only thoughts:

words and pictures leaving this world

cold, electronic.

All of it conspiring to say

I don’t know what I want,

I don’t know who I am,

I need to learn to be happy.

Joy is truly not felt alone,

but found in laughter:

love and friendship keeping this world

warm and sensual.

Only – once at the diner

They laughed, but I stared out

at a streetlight at night.

In darkness you realize you’re alone

wherever you are.