Summer Scene (The Bathers), by Jonathan Yannes​

Summer Scene, Bathers, by Frederic Bazille (France) 1869

Summer Scene (The Bathers)

Bodies
of polished birch 
lined with gold 
encased in cotton 
unabashed  

staring at the ground to watch their feet get
dirty

tenderness that crawls out of the dark 
sinkhole of self
loathing, quietly 
comes to the edge to be
submerged, as John did for Jesus

molded like clay by the hands 
of my brothers
being pressed into wholeness, the sides
of my breaking facades, my loveliness 

laid out to dry 
in the shadows of high noon

I find myself, off in the corner, slowly unbuttoning
my shirt, slacks in a pile
about to take wing 
beside wrestlers in the grass, 
the water and my skin
are still

and the sun and his eyes
are still

and I am not yet ready
to be myself
but I am allowed to try 
to be here

Jonathan Yannes​

Jonathan Yannes is a writer and historian from Silver Spring, Maryland. By day he teaches Special Education classes at a middle school, and by night writes poetry and collages. He was an editor for the Goucher College literature magazine, Preface, and is a Phi Beta Kappa award recipient for his undergrad historical thesis on gender non-conformity in the nineteenth century. 

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