Washing Away
Her lips parted like a red sea, 200 pills walking the fault line of her smile, sea foam mouth, body crashing like a riptide,
tossed onto paper for preservation even as she disintegrated into just another cautionary tale,
undertow of memory for the girl with blue Kool-Aid dyed hair and a thirst for music, pale and parched for meaning,
voice like a sonar, fathoms deep, empty classroom desk, parking lot full of teenagers clutching cigarette ashes;
she's scattered at our feet, across five states and eleven years, hanging around her mother's neck,
lingering like saltwater in the lungs.
Lynne Reeder lives through words. She writes them, reads them, teaches them, and believes in them always. A four-time Perry County Poet Laureate, her work has been featured in multiple online journals and print anthologies, including Recenter Press, The Soapbox Volume I and II, and Strange Magic. When not writing, Lynne finds meaning in mentoring student writers and playing a small part in fueling their futures. Learn more about Lynne and her works at www.lynnereeder.com.