Alone Poem by Robert Leary

It feels awkward walking alone
Along this pier tonight
Shyly I stare at the screws
In the planking
Beating a rhythm to my shoes
Moving before me a young couple
Engrossed in love’s conversation
Coming toward me another couple
With a dog
Everyone’s attached
I think ‘where are my screws’
What keeps me here
Held in the flash of the City
Plankton on a silent sea
Before my bow slipping
Through the waves unheard
But for the helmsman
My mind zooms out
It’s me alone
The boat lists
I smile
And steer a course…