"The Single Bed" (Entry 528)

Mechanical single bed

behind a curtain.

Immaculate mod-con manufactured 

for comfort with restraint.

Starched linen. Hospital corners,

tucked in at the edge of the oversubscribed ward.

Need to be a VIP to get in here.

Have that special something.

Called Cancer.

Wasn’t as exclusive as it once was.

They seem to be letting anyone in now.

She had her space -

sacred single bed and 

wooden cabinet

to store the part of her life 

she was allowed to bring with her.

She last slept in anything 

but a double bed since she was 19.

She hadn’t slept alone since that day

when she became his wife over 40 years ago.

A single bed for a singular life 

with a singular disease.

She prayed she’d go home to that double bed,

and not to sleep on her own forever.

"Alone and On View" (Entry 251)

Room with no windows,
the grey padded cell.
Viewed by guards cameras.
His own private hell.
Hidden in plain sight.
Watch him yell.
Lost and alone.
As you might tell.
This is no home, no house,
No place to dwell.

"What is Lonely?" (Entry 112)

She liked it there.
Alone
in her room.
Safe.
Belongings to hand.
People thought she must be bored and
lonely.
But what is lonely?
She wasn't.
Plenty to do.
The sort that was comfortable
in her own skin.
That's when she was
alone,
that is.
To begin with,
they tried
to get her involved.     Outside.     In the world.
Then
they stopped.
No one bothered anymore.
She wasn't bothered.
No more than she was lonely.
It was when she wasn't
alone.
That's what bothered her.