there is a loneliness in this world so great
that you can see it in the slow movements of
the hands of a clock

there is a loneliness in this world so great
that you can see it blinking in neon signs
in Vegas, in Baltimore, in Munich

there are people so tired
so strafed
so mutilated by love or no
love
that buying a bargain can of tuna
in a supermarket
is their greatest moment
their greatest victory

— from Charles Bukowski’s “the crunch”*

* There are multiple different versions of this poem in which the text varies.

Photo credit: By Theo Crazzolara – Waiting, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54570965