The pebbles bruise our tender feet
as we step along Black Rocks Beach.
The chilly water of Lake Superior
heals our mistreated soles.

Kiss me beneath the waves.
She shucks off her one-piece suit with
the adroit fingers of a Plains woman
with an ear of corn. Nothing I do with her

comes without trembling. My pale skin shivers—
not from the Northern wind—and her hands
cover my breasts like a novice’s veil
as young men dive off the cliffs above us.

Janette Schafer

 

Janette Schafer is a freelance writer, nature photographer, part-time rock n roll singer, and full-time banker living in Pittsburgh, PA. She is a 2017 awardee of the Maenad Fellowship through Chatham University. Her writing and photographs have recently appeared in: Rigorous Journal; Unlikely Stories V; Nasty Women & Bad Hombres Anthology; Dear America, Reflections on Race; and PublicSource.

© 2018