GARBOESQUE
Darling, I hear you talk of fragility,
how we are lonely, loneliest, when we바카라re in touch
with the thousand, the hundred thousand
lonelinesses out there,
wherever 바카라there바카라 may be,
and I welcome the lack you speak of,
the absence of human connection,
and hesitate to call this momentary lapse of aloneness love,
because it isn바카라t,
it바카라s only flesh slapping against itself.
What you call loneliness I call pleasure,
which, considering what you and I do
for employment and for... love,
is the best part of our day,
to be alone in a room, tapping a way into the world,
into the void, into the word,
at one with one바카라s addiction to solitude,
as time dissolves
and we know how much better this is
than to be with someone
lost inside their few square inches of screen,
how much better it is to be alone.
Jeet Thayil is a poet, novelist, librettist and musician. His new collection of poems is 'I바카라ll have it here'
(This article appeared in Outlook바카라s Valentine바카라s Day 2025 special issue on love and loneliness in the era of technology.)
(This appeared in print as 'How to be alone')
