TOGETHER ALONE: FRAGMENTS & POEMS is a personal yet unifying collection of art, fragments, and poetry meant to help soothe the ache of “these days” and bring us closer to ourselves and others.
TOGETHER ALONE is a conversation between The Self, The Other, and The Everyone as they share the universal experience of connection and separation. TOGETHER ALONE takes an emotionally deep and philosophically honest approach to this axis, letting it all hang out from first same-sex kisses, to confessions and forgiveness.
With rhythmic and precise poetry paired with digitally sketched illustrations and art by Syrah Kai, TOGETHER ALONE guides readers through the darkest parts of their hearts (the parts that are hardest to admit to) and into the shoes of others, highlighting they joys and shadows of being together and being alone. Major themes include connection, solitude, self growth, love lessons, isolation, loss, and forgiveness.
A peek inside:
TOGETHER ALONE
No matter how isolated
you think you are
you’re not the only one
suffering
we share this experience
the highs and lows
we are always connected
together alone
----------------------------------------------
WE ARE ON TIME
Maybe we aren’t doomed
as a species
of materialism and stupidity
maybe we are right on time
on cue—on key
to break out into the chorus
of our evolution
maybe we aren’t anywhere close
to the end
but actually in the middle
of the great eventually
----------------------------------------------
LONG DISTANCE CALLING
Do you remember those late night
long distance phone calls that used to last
until my sunrise and your midnight?
I’d whisper in your ear
in my lowest pillow voice
and I could practically feel your warmth on mine
how absurd
we connected through a screen
a collapsed world
the distance was a fallacy
you were here
and it was real
----------------------------------------------
WITH LOVE
inspired by Sharon Olds
I don’t know how they do it with
so much love. The union of heart and soul
forever and maybe after
like colliding cosmic bodies bursting into
April showers, with mouths open and fingers
interlaced, skin so sweaty dripping with faith. The drum
of hearts synching, writing all those terrible love songs.
I don’t know how they can get so close,
or why they would,
why would you give yourself away completely,
for free?
They are the Lovers I suppose, who love love so much
they make it everywhere they go
They feel so liberated doing it gently in the shower
and a little rougher on the couch.
exchanging saliva in domestic bliss
honey I’m home
give me a kiss
