THE SHAPE OF HER LONELINESS

she looked at herself
as if she were someone else
looking at herself

"I'm me & not me!"
she thought on her third whiskey
soon she was nobody

she stared intently
into nothing
Nothing stared back

song on the jukebox
colouring in
her sadness

the song her song
poured itself slowly
into the shape of her loneliness

she cried
without crying
great big invisible tears

she was playing at Life
as if it were a game
she didn't know the rules to

"Oh feet..!" she intoned drunkenly
". . .take me home!"
the street seemed to know the way

she stood still
under a street light
"Beam me up!" she smiled