'If You Haven't Got A Friend Put Up Your Hand.'

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 his request give you the blues?

That’s the moment when your teacher says:
‘If you haven’t got a friend
put up your hand.’

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