We all belong here.

Navigating loneliness over the span of almost 14 years, I have learnt that it is a key part of who I am and although I struggle with it, it's the realisation that travelling this journey of loneliness alone is what I can no longer do and that there is a key difference between being lonely and being alone.

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Lonely but not Alone
For one of the most common experiences, it sure feels rare.
It feels rare to not pinpoint the cause of this hopelessness.
It feels rare to know more than one language yet feel a feeling I can’t quite articulate.
I am the most social I’ve ever been, yet I feel so isolated.
I found the love I dreamt of finding, yet I’ve never felt so desolate.
I was selected for the job I wanted so badly, yet I’ve never felt so incompetent.
I acquired the education I thought I’d never acquire, yet I’ve never felt so unaccomplished.
I write to explore my thoughts but my words are the ones that overwhelm me.
I cry to release my pent up emotions but my tears are the ones that tire me.
I therapize my brain to get help me get better but it is therapy that confronts me.
I seek people in the hopes they’ll understand me but it is them who criticise me.
I thought I’d come to terms with the loneliness,
it took reconnecting with my roots and an Urdu song to learn that
I had some element of acceptance but it was traveling this journey of loneliness alone
that I could no longer do.

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Living in between or next to the moment/thing/memories that you once had or wish to have, that can be lonely.
The liminal spaces, the empty locations, the in-between destinations. These often feel the loneliest. They exist in the back of our lives, as memories, as the spots often without others. Fill them with people and they may shift dramatically.
“Alice” can be the one you miss; From movie screens, old love letters, or from old motel childhood first crushes in faraway lands x

My submission is a collection of three poems that capture my personal experiences of loneliness, self-fragmentation and feelings of insignificance.

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teratogenesis
turning 20
in 2020
it felt like
like being born
for the first time.
helpless, confused — alive, but
somehow still so vulnerable to life.
i blamed it on the pandemonium and sunk
like a coin tossed deep inside myself
so i’d forget i was already born;
that i wasn't still
growing inside
the safety
of a
womb.
nat 20
turning 20
in 2020
i felt like
like the unluckiest
baby girl in the world.
i thought i came out terribly wrong
something so monstrous and unlovable
that needed to retreat within; work on itself
until it resembled… something human.
i said ‘self-growth meant loneliness’
not realising that sun
and rain and love
nurtured all
living
creatures.
theory of decline
turning 20
in 2020
felt just like
being 25 in 2025
except i had a job and
a life and went outside more often.
something terribly wrong happened but
i don't know what. this tea-stained mattress
is infused with my sweat and secrets —
the only soul willing to hold the
weight of my existence.
being 25 in 2025
feels just like
rotting in
a bassinet.

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I used different textues of dark green, browns and earthy tones for the background. There is a tiny singular bright red mushroom in the centre with sticks, rocks and leaves surrounding it. You can see faint shadows of other mushrooms just off the page. the only text on the page is "A-Part?"

Loneliness is expressed as a feeling of being alone or disconnected from others. For me, loneliness is sometimes being able to be by myself and collect my thoughts. There are times that feeling is a feeling of sadness and not being able to spend time with others due to conflicting schedules.
The outside facade can be colourful but inside it could be darker colours (negative like black). Music can express those emotions.