I found those photos you took.
I look cancer tired.
I gave you the option of leaving,
thinking loving me would be your burden.
You just took more photos.
It had not occurred to me
that you were thinking about my death.
Taking photos in advance,
tracing my steps.
I didn’t like it
but put on a smile for you
who still saw beauty in sallow skin.
I’m cracked at the edges.
I want to hold you now.
I found those photos you took.
Bio
Elizabeth Lish Å kec writes poetry, plays, short stories, comedy and songs for adults and children. She has two chapbooks Butterflies of New Dawn 1995 & Leather Skin, skecteXt publishing 2002 and one poetry collection with spine Breath published by Luckner Press 2014 (with more in the works) and has been published in various anthologies worldwide.
Lish has taught poetry, creative writing and theatre workshops for The Victorian Writers Centre, CERES, Overload Poetry Festival, SPAN Community House and was part of the video education series Picking Poetry Apart with Dorothy Porter among others. Lish is the convener of Poetryspective in Australia.