‘Put Up Your Hand If You Haven’t Got A Friend’

Are you alone
on the playground at every break
wondering how much more loneliness you can take?

At lunchtime
is there not a single space
for you to sit down next to a friendly face?

In the poetry workshop,
when the poet asks you all to write in twos,
does the very thought of that give you the blues?

That’s when your teacher says:
‘Put up your hand
if you haven’t got a friend.’

Go on, put it up, high in the air. Extend
those digits so that everyone can see
just how lonely a life can be.

Portrait