A Preferred Lie

[Erthona]

This is a nice sort of extended metaphor.

"Of all the places I’ve never been
and all the people I’ve never met,"

These opening lines seem a tad trite, not to mention confusing. I may be dense, but I just don't get the connection between these two lines and what follows. Plus it sounds like the opening of a "hard boiled dick" novel, e.g. Mickey Spillane's "Mike Hammer" novels.

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"Aside the green was a hand pump, " Why "aside" instead of "beside"?
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"it was always the water, left of the green,
in front of the green,"

To me this reads awkwardly, and is somewhat confusing: (Just an example, not a suggestion)

Beside the green was a hand pump—
now long since removed—
that brought fresh water from Chippewa River;
clear, cold, and seamless, almost invisible.
Left and in front of the green,
the river swelled and flowed:
it was always the water
that held us together."
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"I’m a man-child waiting
by the water, knowing it’s only a slow turn
away from your different kind of life."

Nice strong ending, ties it together well.
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Dale