I have been a writer for most of my life. Writing and being in nature are both vital to my soul life. I live in the country, surrounded by forests and waterfalls, and when I am alone here, there is a sense of deep peace, profound stillness, and a connectedness to all that is. There is never loneliness. It's different in the city. I was in Armory Square late one night, and out of the darkness came the sound of a saxophone, playing its lone music to a deserted street, piercing the silence—the kind of silence that bespoke loneliness. I wanted to capture, in my haiku, the loneliness that is felt when we expect people to be present, as opposed to the peaceful solitude we feel in nature.