The water is a lover who absorbs the body,
a bed that curls around my limbs.
He holds my head beneath the waves—
I cannot breathe. I surrender to the press
of fluid, let go, my lungs filled.
I break as I did when a foetus
in my mother’s womb.
I grab him by the leg,
plead with him—Don’t go yet,
I am almost with you.
Janette Schafer is a freelance writer, nature photographer, part-time rock singer, and full-time banker living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her writing and photographs have appeared in numerous journals, newspapers, magazines, and websites. She was chief editor of The Dreamers Anthology, released by Beautiful Cadaver Project Pittsburgh. She is a graduate student in Creative Writing at Chatham University. Her forthcoming poetry collection Something Here Will Grow will be published by Main Street Rag in 2020.
Eunoia Review 