Mistress Moon
With the same finger
that triggered the rifle
against waterfowl
in the June dusk,
he touches his wife’s lips
where she’s pinned his shoulders
softly to the bed
as his hunter body slackens
under those hands
that had pared wings from bone,
poured his wine,
tore sourdough stopped
in bourbon sauce,
and now convey her alone
swimming the river at night.
© JC Alfier
JC Alfier’s (they/them) most recent book of poetry, The Shadow Field, was published by Louisiana Literature Press (2020). Journal credits include Faultline, New York Quarterly, Notre Dame Review, Penn Review, River Styx, and Vassar Review. They are also an artist doing collage and double-exposure work after the style of Toshiko Okanoue, Francesca Woodman, Deborah Turbeville, and especially Katrien De Blauwer.
The Loch Raven Review 