158 Words For Loneliness By Jake St. John

I am writing poems tonight

and have no one to read them to

I will read them to the wall

and we will laugh

at the poems I am writing  

alone in my room

I will read them to the wall

and make the wall cry

at the words it hears

tonight alone in my room

I will read my poems

to the windows

who will open

and shout my poems

down into the street

that is as lonely

as my room is tonight

I will shout my poems  

at the ceiling

and curse it  

for hiding the moon

I will read my poems  

to the door

that is keeping  

the outside  

from coming into  

my room tonight

I will read my poems  

to the floor

and make it cheer

for the words  

that represent those

that have been trampled upon

I will read my poems  

to the walls

and make them cry

tonight alone in my room

Jake St. John lives in the woods on the edge of the Salmon River. He is the author of several collections of poetry including Lips Leave Scars (with Jenn Knickerbocker, Whiskey City Press, 2023) Ring of Fog (Holy and Intoxicated Publications, 2022), Night Full of Diamonds (Whiskey City Press, 2021), and Lost City Highway (A Jabber Publication, 2019). He is the editor of Elephant and is considered an original member of the New London School of poetry. His poems have appeared in print and online journals around the world."