Mastectomy

Craig L. Slingluff, Jr.

Wet silk blouse against her breast,
warm wind pressing
against the visible nipple,
she wonders

if anyone but she
might also find it erotic
to see her driving
in the rain, windows open,

or standing against the loud wind
on the balcony of her 38th floor apartment
full-face to the storm, her breast
and herself, under the flashes of lightning, for all to see.

These are recurring dreams,
like the dream of free falling,
or the dream
of running and falling,
like the dream
of reaching for a door
and finding it gone.

University of Virginia Virginia Quarterly Review
5 Boar's Head Place
PO Box 400223
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA 22903-3237
ISSN 2154-6932