Poetry competition Second Prize: Jo Matthews – “Lonely”

Lonely

You’re lying close enough

that your eyes are black liquid stars

and I can count the constellations

of new sugar freckles on your skin

and taste your breath in mine.

And you tell me that you’re lonely

not lonely alone, but something deeper

and more tangled that took you under,

and you wonder if it might soften

if you were surrounded by people

calling your name, or if you could

taste the salt of your mum’s gyoza

again, or if your phone blinked back

more messages of assent, or if this

yawn of empty feeling could be stuffed

shut with stuff. You’re close enough

that you can feel my heart beat back

and see in my eyes: that I am lonely too

and roughly reflected there you see

that as sure as we have eyes to shine

and skin to freckle and breath to breathe

we will forever get lost in our loneliness

wandering tightly together, always alone

until we find where we know is home.