I used to sit in a bookshop and read alone

And I used to go home and be alone

And then I used to sit in the corner of the cafeteria

Only once it was closed though

And I’d...be alone

And then I sat in the classroom after class with the teacher

And I felt alone

Except sometimes he shuffled his papers around

And that was too much noise for me, but once he asked

“Why don’t you listen to music while you read?”

Because all that’s on the radio are these angsty teens

Hating their parents and hating people

And it’s not that I don’t get them

It’s just that I’m a hypocrite

I used to sit with these kids at school who asked

“Did you go out and party last night?”

And I’d say no I was alone last night

With a flashlight and A Study in Scarlet

Teachers called me a poet in first grade

I didn’t know what that meant I just knew

That I liked the characters I wrote about better than them

I’m cool with writing alone

But this computer goes so slow

I had to break it

Except now I have to write downstairs

But I keep getting kicked out of the living room

Since 2 AM is “too late” to stay up writing

Is it just me or is the world too cacophonous?

I’ve got this 12 year old cousin who plays baseball

And at midnight he still won’t stop waking me up

Even though he’s got a game at 7 AM

And I have to waste time on the weekend with friends

All so that people will leave me alone

It’s long since time I built my social life a funeral pyre

And at least use it to light the sky on fire

So people know I exist

Even though I’m not around a whole lot

At least solitude is quiet

And I like the quiet