Kathryn Gahl

LIFE DRAWING CLASS

She offers
herself up, nude
Nervous, curious
broke.
A pretense
of grace
As the pose is set
denial of
A ripple of chill
across her clavicles
Spasm in the great toe
and down the
Knotty rope astride
the spine
A siren while
artists gaze
In the name of art
amazed by the strange
And wild thing where
bogs and shapes
And coastlines form
a pool of light
On her full exposure
a shimmer
Only she knows
as shiver
When she holds
stock-still
Recalling love
left in the marrow
Shadows and bold lines
for shoulders
Holding up hope
treasured breasts
That fed another
and a belly
Of striations and
textured
Grooves
the lived-in look
Of where
her babies grew.