The Shoulder

I was mid-sentence when their body

angled away from me.

A small rotation. Barely noticeable.

But I noticed.

The room was loud. All of it at once.

Voices braiding together, voices

I wasn't part of. Laughter that

didn't include me.

I held a drink I wasn't finishing.

I tried again. I said something

to the group. My words landed

and stayed there. No one picked them up.

I could have left. The exit

was right there. Instead I stood

and watched people know each other.

Watched the way their bodies

turned toward each other's faces.

The easy lean in. The belonging.

The noise around me was one noise.

White noise. I was inside the room

but not in it. Surrounded but

separate. Close enough to hear

what I wasn't invited into.

I stayed until the end.

I always do.

Standing in the corner of my own presence,

watching everyone else

live their version of together.