Solitude.
I dream
of expansive landscapes,
crave your panoramic
silence, thrill to the ideal
of your boundless sanctity.
Solitude.
You wrap me
in separateness, strip away
my cardboard walls, tear
at the corners of my instability;
no refuge from the stillness.
Solitude.
I am smothered
by your starkness, by my
starkness, cries of madness
reverberating through vast
canyons of aloneness.
(Solitudes first appeared here in May 2017. From 2014 to 2017, I lived in isolation and silence due to ME/CFS. I examined the phenomena often through poetic expression. This edition has been altered from the original. I submit it here for dVerse’s “Sounds of Silence” challenge. Thank you Dwight Roth for hosting.)
One Woman's Quest 
I so love this…
Really well done!!
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Thanks, Bill. I appreciate it!
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My pleasure!
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If I had to put a picture to this, it would The Scream. I can feel the building isolation, the discomfort. So well done!
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Thanks Sascha. It was a tough time, and yet, opened the door for writing – so blessed as well.
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Incredible VJ. Your experience. Your writing. And your openness to finding the light in such a dark time. Incredible! ✨♥️✨
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Thanks, Andrea. Your acknowledgment touches me deeply. Bless you.
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♥️♥️
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It grows, this poem. The smothering starkness of solitude an especially powerful image.
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Thanks. I was trying to capture the many aspects of solitude.
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You did.
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Thank you!
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I can imagine those echos in the canyons of aloneness. It could be maddening.
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At times it was, for sure, Frank. Thanks for reading.
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There’s a wealth of experience to be gained by solitude. A beautiful write!
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Thank you so much, Vivian.
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I particularly like the final stanza with the repetition of the “a” sounds in starkness, madness, vast, canyons, aloneness which sound very much like a wide open mouth scream. A powerful ending to your poem.
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Thank you Susanne. Assonance, I think we called it in English class, lol.
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I liked the way you pealed solitude and silence like an onion. One layer is inspiring and uplifting, but at the core it can be unsettling and revealing lost in the canyons of ourself. Very nice post!
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Thank you – this is what I was striving for.
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A poem that begins peacefully but descends into angst and desperation…a powerful write, V.J.! Love the photo of loon too.
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I can feel how a silence suffocating.. what a terrible choice to have. The weight of such silence or the pain from any noise
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I am emerging now from that cocoon and everything is so much sweeter, although I still have to be careful about noise, and other stimulants. Thanks.
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