The loneliness of creation is the loneliest of all.
There’s you, a screen, labelled keys, and somewhere just beyond them, the world. But this isn’t your world, not presently, not at this instant in time. Why? Because you’re about to build another.
You might close your eyes. You might take a breath. There’s always reaching for those oversized headphones and a playlist. There’s probably a window with a glass division, teasing what can be achieved. Somewhere, a lonely bird chirps, please. You breathe again. You can do better.
The words fall from your fingertips like raindrops from the sky. An unintended derailment of processed ideas, these words become sentences become more. There’s no thought required. There’s no plan worth failing. This chaos is bliss.
The window glass darkens. The headphone-pumped music becomes static in the void. A maelstrom of unheralded senses carry another tune, that of a new beginning. But for what and who?
The names are on the screen before you’ve met their owners. Their homes, family, and backgrounds, too. There are emerald woods and basalt cliffs, indigo oceans and kaleidoscopic fish. You stir them together with a tongue no longer pinned between your lips. A smile. A twinkle in your eyes. And you’ve just begun.
The raindrops have become torrents. The torrents have formed rivers that have filled a thousand oceans. You’re done.
Only at the end do you realise, you were never really lonely at all.
Copyright © 2023 Richard M. Ankers
All Rights Reserved
Richard M. Ankers is the English author of The Eternals Series and Britannia Unleashed. Richard has featured in Expanded Field Journal, Love Letters To Poe, Spillwords, and feels privileged to have appeared in many more. Richard lives to write.
Featured Image: Courtesy of Pixabay
Editor: Barbara Harris Leonhard
MasticadoresUSA is open for submissions. Send your submissions to meelosmom@gmail.com.
Amazon Best-Selling Author
Three-Penny Memories: A Poetic Memoir (EIF-Experiments in Fiction, 2022)
Pushcart Nominee, 2022
Facebook: Barbara Harris Leonhard /barbara.leonhard
Twitter: @BarbaraLeonhar4
Instagram: @meelosmom123
Linked In: ExtraordinarySunshineWeaver
Mastodon: @BarbaraLeonhard@msdtn.social
Divider Image: by GDJ on Pixabay
MasticadoresUsa // Editor: Barbara Leonhard 
Thank you for sharing your great work! We appreciate you!
Me gustaLe gusta a 1 persona
love your imagery and truth in your prose Richard! 💗
Me gustaLe gusta a 1 persona
Richard, we are so honored to publish your beautiful prose poem. We hope that you submit again!
Me gustaLe gusta a 1 persona
Congratulations on this publication. I loved reading your words. There is so much truth to what you say. What is it that makes many of us have such a fast paced life that we don’t even take time to hear the beautiful morning calls of the Wren who is such a loud and beautiful singer. Yet, we can, and do especially when young, just go about the daily grind, chaos, etc. I think when I hit forty I really started noticing nature so much more. I enjoyed and was grateful for all the beauty on our earth and that in fact, even the trees can be comforting (I did discover that at a very young age.) Anyway, it was a beautiful prose and a delight to read. I too, hope we can read you again on MasticadoresUSA. 🤗
Me gustaLe gusta a 1 persona
How lovely to see Richard Ankers here. This is an excellent poem. Thought provoking in its truths.
Me gustaLe gusta a 1 persona
I enjoyed this description of the creative process, Richard. Thank you for sharing, Barbara!
Me gustaLe gusta a 1 persona