New Poetry by Melissa Chappell

Twenty Summers

Twenty summers have passed,

and the river’s memory stretches

warm on a boulder,

waiting for her lover

as I wait,

in the deep hold of winter,

a stone in my shoe,

bothersome boulder

where many 

burnished suns ago,

I excelled

in every way

in his eyes,

oceanic gray

watching me

stretch

above the waters

roiling

as every 

pool of remembrance is

in flames,

and I am warm,

restless beneath

the ice floes,

bereft of your body,

twenty summers gone,

twenty silvered stones,

twenty rivers reimagining

us

twenty times

again and again,

that I have lost you.

- © Melissa Chappell 2021

I am an author living in S:outh Carolina, USA. I have been published in Amethyst Review, Dreich Magazine, A New Ulster, BlazeVox, and Adelaide Literary Review. My latest publication was Doors Carelessly Left Ajar (Alien Buddha Press, 2020).  I was a Pushcart Prize nominee in 2019 and a Short LIst Nominee for the Adelaide 2021 LIterary Award. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my poetry.