This is How Lonesome Feels

The sun goes down and the sky turns dusky
And everything tastes like homesick
You drape the sky around your shoulders
And know how lonesome feels.
Every chord is minor
Every light dim
And if a stranger smiles at you,
you see regret beneath the curve of lips.

You’ve been alone too long.
If you count the time in twilights
it would number a lifetime.
You understand moths dying for the light
The sorrowful call of the whippoorwill
The futile signal of the firefly

You imagine a lifetime of loneliness.
You picture your hair going gray
your body loosening into a fold of wrinkles
Your best intentions pooled at your feet
How long since you recognized a face
Felt the touch of a familiar hand
A bowl of flowers on a kitchen table
An orange, peeled and halved for you.

Judy Reeves is a writer, teacher and writing practice provocateur whose books include A Writer’s Book of Days, named “Best Nonfiction” by the San Diego Book Awards; Writing Alone, Writing Together; A Creative Writer’s Kit and The Writer’s Retreat Kit. Her fiction, nonfiction, and poetry has appeared in the San Diego Reader; The Frozen Moment; A Year in Ink; Connotations Press; Serving House Journal; Waymark; and Expressive Writing, Classroom and Community, and other journals and anthologies. Two plays, written with a women’s writing ensemble, were produced by the Fritz Theater. In addition to leading private writing workshops and retreats, Judy teaches at San Diego Writers, Ink, a nonprofit literary organization she co-founded, and at writing conferences internationally. Her latest book is Wild Women, Wild Voices-Writing from Your Authentic Wildness.

judyreeveswriter.com