‘Are you lonely?’ says the book.
‘Why are you asking?’
‘Are you?’
‘Do I look lonely?’
‘Does it come on you suddenly, or does it grind away at you like shoulder-pain?’
‘How do you know about my shoulder-pain?’
‘Is is not my business to know?’
‘You know I know where your bodies are buried? You know that don’t you?’
‘So shoot me,’ the book says.
‘I’ll bear that in mind. I’m lonely. Yes. And not lonely, no. When I write I am not lonely, and lonely. When I don’t write I am lonely, and not. Same as when I am reading. Or not. Both. The answer is both.’
‘Actually, would you mind shooting me now?’ says the book.
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Published by Anthony Wilson
I am a lecturer, poet and writing tutor. I work in teacher and medical education at the University of Exeter. My anthology Lifesaving Poems, based on the blog of the same name, is available from Bloodaxe Books. Love for Now, my memoir of cancer, is published by Impress Books. Deck Shoes, a book of prose memoir and criticism, and The Afterlife, my fifth book of poems, are available now from Impress Books and Worple Press. My current research project is Young Poets' Stories: https://youngpoetsstories.com/. This blog is archived by the British Library.
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