The Other Woman #3

By Laurie Kolp

It's #tbt! Enjoy this great one from SWWIM Every Day's archives!

---

She kissed as if to breathe you inside her 
(but) from the waist down, she was never there.
In her garden, the lies were shaking out moist silks.
To endure the endless walk through self,
pride pumped in like poison.
 



Cento credits: L1-Ocean Vuong, Kissing in Vietnamese; L2-Claudia Emerson, Early Elegy: Headmistress; L3-Sylvia Plath, The Detective; L4-Molly Peacock, Altruism; L5-Anne Sexton, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

---

---

Laurie Kolp is an educator, avid reader, runner, and nature lover living in Southeast Texas.  She is the author of Upon the Blue Couch and Hello, It's Your Mother. Her poems have appeared in Whale Road Review, SWWIM Every Day, The Inflectionist Review, and more. Laurie’s found poetry has been published online and in journals such as North Dakota Quarterly, Prelude, Dream Pop Press, and more. Laurie is currently working on a project to honor her late father.

---

• Congratulations to our own Caridad Moro-Gronlier, Associate Editor, for being named Poet Laureate of Miami-Dade County!

• 4/10 / Meet the Artist with visiting poet-in-residence Tyler Mills / The Library at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 6:00 pm EST / Free

• 4/10 / Poetry Reading with visiting poet-in-residence Tyler Mills + local writer Jennifer Litt / The Library at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 7:30 pm EST / Free

• Are you a SWWIMmer with literary news to share (publication/feature/award/book/book review)? We’d love to shout out your accomplishments in our Weekly Spotlight! Please email swwimmiami@gmail.com. (No DMs on any social media platforms, please.)

• Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, and Bluesky for more updates—and visit our website to see past, present, and future readings & events.

---

**We do our best to preserve the integrity of each poem; however, due to programming limitations, some poems may read differently on a mobile phone and in certain browsers. For best viewing, use Chrome on a desktop/laptop.