The Writer’s Corner features poetry, essays, short stories, satire and various fiction and non-fiction from SCAD Atlanta students. To submit your own work for the Writer’s Corner, email features@scadconnector.com.
The hug of darkness is the envelope of
loneliness that crowds your room.
It is the particles, cells, mists of
intense loneliness that is
ironically
captured by tender melodies of piano
and flutes in the background
as you play music in the empty room
hoping it will drown out the hug of darkness.
Though delightful sounds they are,
they are not, “how are you doing?”
they are not “I care about you,”
they are not “I have a story to share,”
they are also not “you have a friend in me,”
They are not human voices.
They are not affection.
And so you wonder,
where are your friends?
Where are your people?
Where is your wolf pack?
The ever black screen on your device
echoes the hug of darkness in your room.
But the screen does not bring you to
the home of stars at night,
the tribe of trees outside the mountains,
or the group of crickets that dances in the park,
or the millions of families huddling close to share a meal,
at their dinner tables, under the iridescent lights.
Lonely you might be,
within this city, there are people who are just
as familiar with
the hug of darkness,
and the air of loneliness
as you are.
Your wolf pack is made out of lone wolves,
nurtured by distance and
isolation.
