solitude lives inside me as it lives inside you
every time it rains i see its face in the distance
mocking me for staying inside
when i cry i remember how it felt to be held
and then i scream
i scream
i yell
i stare at you
until my eyes turn grey
and you don’t leave
solitude walks behind me
i try to brush him away
a ghost in this land
as i am in this body
he breathes and the sun sets
he coughs and the oceans dry up
he cries and i slap him in the face
he’s lonely write your name and you’ll know why
my body begs for you
my mind whispers you never loved me
my heart pleads that i listen to you
and not me
i hate solitude
it’s a shapeshifter
able to become love
to become the ocean we were looking at the first time i saw you
there are multiple versions of myself
in this space between us
each one looks erased and misplaced
each one looks like a drawing
each one weeps for solitude
Kiley Woods is a creative writing student at Eckerd College in Florida. She works as a news editor for the student newspaper, The Current, and as a volunteer reader for the Eckerd Review literary magazine. Her work has been published in Second Story Journal, Pomegranate Lit, Diet Water, Portals Magazine, and elsewhere.
Featured image by Tim Marshall on Unsplash
