The Plural We

I told them the gardens were crowded and loud,

that we laughed at the koi in the big, central pond.

I conjured a face and I conjured a crowd

to hide the fact that I’m not very fond

of being the person who eats lunch for one.

I hid behind a fern in the glass conservatory,

watching a couple argue about what they’d done,

while I tried to invent a much better story.

My reflection was there in the bubbles and green,

distorted by filters and the pump's steady hum.

I looked like a ghost in a very dull scene,

waiting for something better to come.

'We had such a time,' I said to the phone,

while I picked a dead leaf off the sleeve of my coat.

I’m getting too good at being alone,

with a lie like a dry, dusty pill in my throat.