‘An Astonishing Cure For Loneliness’ Use this title to inspire a story or a poem.

An Astonishing Cure For Loneliness

By Gabrielle Clover

Surrounded by strangers

Solitude rises on the steam

Of my Earl Gray tea

To whisper sweet nothings in my ear

And I try not to be jealous of how those leaves

Cling to each other as they loll around

In the hot tub of the pot

Sitting in a cafe

Surrounded by strangers

My tea cup settles back into the embrace

Of the saucer

I try not to think about how nice it would be

To be someone’s saucer

To have a human fit so perfectly

Into the groove of me

To hold each other steady

There for whether the cup 

is full or empty

Sitting in a cafe 

Surrounded by strangers

I concentrate on the maniacal 

dancing of fingers on a keyboard

and thoughts becoming visible in ink

I listen to the swish of the paper

Flicking to a new page

And try not to associate it with the swish of a 

Meringue dress

Sweeping up wedding cake crumbs 

from the dance floor

As the first dance begins

And just before my mind flies off for a 

hermitic honeymoon

The pens still

The tip tap typing petters out

We sit in a circle

Reading embryonic pieces

Words mingling in the space between us

And it is my turn to read

A poem about loneliness

Which no longer exists