Rye Shoulders, Cake Breasts
by Emily Strauss
warm loaves like buttocks
baked into shape,
the clay oven cooling now
butter softens, quince jam
chunky
the knife will cut me
open to steam
at the naked window
with fall clouds lowering
the air darkening
light a lamp on a blue
Delft plate on the wooden
table, thick slice
ready to bite, lick
sugar from your fingers
your tongue seeking
the crumbs, round
sweet buns of morning
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Emily Strauss has an M.A. in English, but is self-taught in poetry, which she has written since college Over 300 of her poems appear in a wide variety of online venues and in anthologies, in the U.S. and abroad. The natural world is generally her framework; she also considers the stories of people and places around her. She is a semi-retired teacher living in California.