Breath by Janette Schafer

My lover knows
a tangible readiness
about the eyes, heaviness
in my breath like the humid shroud
of a July day.

I wait for it,
the balance of him
on my body, sharp intake
of air, and we are caught frozen,
a medical model, a bird of prey stuffed
with glass eyes.

A moment of caution before
the crazy, the shameless.

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Janette Schafer is a freelance writer, photographer, and opera singer living in Pittsburgh. She is a 2017 Maenad Fellowship Awardee through Chatham University. Recent and upcoming publications include Eyedrum Periodically, PublicSource, Chatham University broadsides, The Woman Inc., and Nasty Women and Bad Hombres Anthology.

Photo: Stefan Schweihofer