Poem

C. R. Manley

FAITH

What had she done today? She told us
how she had sat on the grass of the town square,
across from the art museum and down
the slight embankment from the sidewalk,
where only the closest cars and pedestrians would be visible.
She unbuttoned her blouse and lay back on the lawn,
the scraps of sunlight through the leaves
warming her breasts in the slight chill of the air.
She was there more than an hour in a small college town
in northern Ohio on a beautiful Saturday afternoon
after a dark, cold winter. Everyone was outside.
How many people saw you? we asked. What did they do?
She shrugged. I don't know. My eyes were closed.

C.R. Manley

C.R. Manley has forthcoming work in Isotope (nonfiction) and Plainsongs and Windfall(poetry). His writing and photography have also appeared in American Mineralogist, Arnazella, Bulletin of Volcanology, Frogpond, Geology, Iris, Paragraph, Plainswoman, Pontoon, Quick Fiction, South Dakota Review and Wisteria. After growing up in western Pennsylvania, he moved progressively westward while earning several geology degrees. He now lives on glacial till near Seattle with his wife and daughter.

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