after Ian Fishman

Landlines are lonely.
Sailboats. Coves.
Astonishment is lonely.
Lost socks. Astronauts.
Crabs are lonely.
People with crabs
are lonely. Clearance
sections. Christmas trees.
Flagpoles in winter.
Waking up on New Year’s Day.
The devil. The devil is lonely.
Payphones. Morse code.
High rise apartments
are the loneliest.
Shamu. Lawnmowers.
Ears if you think about it.
Water towers. Big Ben.
Australia is the lonely
continent, also Greenland.
Airplanes. Mondays.
Ice caps. Woodwinds.
Wind chimes. Waiting
is lonely. Waiting rooms
waiting for results. Fire escapes.
Florida. Pet stores. Tractors. Stars.
Houseplants for the jungle.
New Yorkers for old New York.
Diamonds for deep earth.
Dogs for the eternal field.

Christine Marella is a writer from California. She is an MFA candidate at NYU where she is a Jan Gabriel Fellow. She teaches creative writing and lives between New York City and the Bay Area.