THE FOLLOWING POEM WAS SELECTED IN WINGWORD POETRY PRIZE 2023 LONGLIST.

There is a friend from far who I wish to meet,

For I have got no friends around to greet.

Except one, whom I call my mobile phone,

He greets me with morning messages and notifications everyday in the same pleasant tone.

He is also there for me when I just have to stroll around and listens to me patiently,

I also take him for granted sometimes and smash him against the wall when I think about my friend from far, vehemently.

My childhood, they say, was very different, it had some neutral behaviours and emotional voids,

I had some friends and lost some, didn’t feel a lot bad, and mostly enjoyed my room, they probably called me a schizoid.

I ran out of my room, only to realise later I was sitting under a tree,

My emotions are like a see-saw, out in the air on some days and deep in the soil on others, short-lived like my happiness spree.

It then reminds me of my friend from far,

Whose comforting space would perhaps make my emotions , not sinusoidal but a linear bar.

My friend from far, I wish you were here with me,

I promise to feel for you a little more empathetic, a little more comforting, and a little more understanding and a little more me.

May you soon get out of my fictional world, and come close,

We will go out someplace quiet, my friend from far, only you can give me life, a true closure

One that everyone is wishes for, but are a little hesitant to say?