What IS being lonely?
Preferring a book to people?Because a book supports silently.
Watching films alone?Because getting others to join in is a coordination of calendars, choices and opinions……and not just about hanging out.
Is it not having someone to share your moments with?
Or is it having someone and yet not being heard?
Is it always being the ear but not a voice?
Is it having to wake up even when you can’t?
Is it finding joy in the mundane?
The birds, trees and skies.
Is it feeling lost and bewildered?
Because you never seem to fit in?

as a reaction to this poem by Charles Bukowski

I’ve never been lonely.
I’ve been in a room —
I’ve felt suicidal.
I’ve been depressed.
I’ve felt awful — 
awful beyond all —
but I never felt that
one other person
could enter that room
and cure what was bothering me…
or that any number of people
could enter that room.
In other words,
loneliness is something
I’ve never been bothered with
because I’ve always had
this terrible itch for solitude.
It’s being at a party,
or at a stadium full of people
cheering for something,
that I might feel loneliness.
I’ll quote Ibsen,
“The strongest men are the most alone.”
….You know the typical crowd,
“Wow, it’s Friday night,
what are you going to do?
Just sit there?”
Well, yeah.
Because there’s nothing out there.
It’s stupidity.
Stupid people
mingling with stupid people.
Let them stupidify themselves.
I’ve never been bothered
with the need to rush out into the night.
I hid in bars,
because I didn’t want to hide in factories.
That’s all.
Sorry for all the millions,
but I’ve never been lonely.
I like myself.
I’m the best form of entertainment I have.
Let’s drink more wine!