I Am Alone

In the beginning, it was not too bad Stay at home Do not travel out If you must stray, mask your identity Distance yourself socially, seventy-two inches An arbitrary amount No visitors allowed Lock your doors My silver hair reveals my risk Essentially, I am not needed I am alone It was not too bad, in the beginning Hidden in my favorite chair with a bottomless mug at my side My fingers flash across the keyboard Dreaming the Great American Novel Sans endless interruptions Straying from favored chair to over-stuffed sofa I binge watch romantic comedies, (Tell no one, I plea) and apocalyptic sagas Until now becomes tomorrow Potato chip dust covers my shirt Being alone, pants are optional Alexa serenades me with golden oldies As I eat breakfast for supper Meat without veggies Chocolate morsels topping every meal Two glasses of brandy Shame on me It is not too bad Being alone Days grow into weeks Sunday or Monday Who really knows? My novel untouched, glares accusingly at the vacant chair In my remoteness, I have misplaced the remote No images No sounds Alexa left me too My cupboard is bare I wander out, donned in anonymity Seventy-two inches has never looked so far No meat Heaps of veggies If I must I return Home Carrying my bag, wearing my disguise Shuffle, shuffle Day seventy-two Alone begot Loneliness Painless labor It was not too bad Before