twenty years

twenty years you’ve been gone &
that’s just how long you’ve been dead
in life you were gone, too
i was a pool you’d drown in
if you got your feet wet
you kept your feet dry

how hard to hold the truth
like a bitter seed under your tongue

at the end you spit it out

i’d guessed what you said before
your tongue stilled for good

i had eyes

i said i forgave you

it was my turn to lie

Photo by James Barr on Unsplash

Written by 

Anne Leigh Parrish’s new poetry collection, The Banished and the Dead, appeared in March 2026 from Unsolicited Press. Her next collection of short stories, People Ruin Everything, will arrive in October 2026, also from Unsolicited Press. In 2027 she will present two more titles: When the River Runs Blue, poems; and The Quiet Violence of An Angry Heart, both from Unsolicited Press. She lives in Olympia, Washington. Explore her writing at www.anneleighparrish.com and her photography at www.laviniastudios.com

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