Why is the Loneliness Here?

A Short Collection of Reflections from Isolation.

By Pandora Jafari, 11

All The Stars Are
Falling From The Sky

All the stars are falling from the sky,
All the stars are falling, and I never experienced them.
For all the burning of my face and the tears in my eyes,
For all the selfish stamping of my feet, they are still
inconsiderately
falling.

I’m mad. I’m mad that people are crying
when they have at least experienced the stars.
I’m mad because my sadness is something unique
I’m mad because nobody likes dealing with sad people.
But especially not when they don’t know how to fix them.
Make them feel better again.
What does an adult do if a kid is sad?
Tell them the stars weren’t really all that great anyway?

What do they do if they’re sad about it too?
What do we do?
What limbo will we act out?

All the stars are falling from the sky.
It’s not your fault.
I’m just sad, and kinda mad about it.
So why are you not ok with that?

 

Lobby

Which is weird, I think.
But there’s something about waiting rooms.
Places you aren’t supposed to be for long.

How do you design a place for waiting?
What types of waitings are there, does a lobby know?
Do you think lobby furniture yearns to be appreciated?
Or to be something other than part of waiting for something else?
To be a part of someone’s favorite room?
Isn’t purgatory one big waiting room, does it too yearn?

I like imagining different lobbies.
In my head, I must eventually imagine a place that actually exists.
And to admire it in my head before I even see it, makes me feel nice.
I want the room to feel loved. To know, at least for a moment,
I am its person.
It is my favorite.

If you pay attention to objects, they have a lot of life.
Rooms have so much life, so many stories to tell.
Lobbies always feel like they’re wanting, to me.
Holding their breath.
Waiting to be loved. To be something more.
To not be an Almost-Room.

 

Is Arson Illegal?

Burn a house down to a crisp.
Stand on the outside and watch it’s foundations crumble.
Floors and walls give way.

Smile so wide it hurts your cheeks.

Your back is chilly this December night,

But be damned if your face isn’t warm if your chest isn’t fluttering.
It felt very, very nice to burn down that home, didn’t it?
You deserved it, after everything they put you through.

Let’s burn down another.
And another.
If I can’t have it, no one can.

Is Arson Illegal?
I mean, do you really even care?
You do…?
It sounds like you aren’t committed.
Legality isn’t the right concern, y’see.
Focus on evading, maintaining deniability.
Then you won’t have to worry about morality.
And when you don’t have to worry about morality,
Lord knows you won’t be worrying about legality.