Black Fox Summer Issue (#12)

Selected poems by Katie J. Schwartz A Brief History of My Breasts Fifth grade, noon bell rings: squeeze into a bathroom stall and breathe easier without a training bra.

Squirrel it away in my Lisa Frank lunch box.

Much to my mother's chagrin, my savage self resists her civilizing mission.

But my saucy bold rebellion cannot evade a different Mother.

Summer, twelve birthday candles: Fall asleep flat and wake up aching, unwieldy, and off-kilter— angry red fissures stain my skin.

Sixth grade, bra now compulsory: Male fingers snap and pinch.

Don't bother complaining— “Boys will be boys” High school, sexual awakening: Nipples stiffen beneath thin cotton and his fingers, self-satisfied smirk.

Cherry crawls across my cheeks.

College, birth control prescription: Safe from a swelling stomach, but my breasts balloon, cartoonish in newly-tight t-shirts.

I mourn the goldenness of pre-puberty: Ballerinas and horses and skinned knees.

No double entendres to weigh me down.