The Marriage Feast at Cana, by Janette Schafer

The Marriage Feast at Cana, traditionally attributed to Hieronymus Bosch (Netherlands), after 1550.

The Marriage Feast at Cana
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"You do not seem to realize that beauty is a liability rather than an asset."
                                                                                                   Marianne Moore

Nary a flask of new wine
from the hand of the Savior
could bring a flush of happiness
to her cheek. She would be like
the water, transformed in miraculous
fashion to fruit before it is plucked.
Like the plates of the revelers, she is
empty, picked clean.
Were that a woman like a man
instead of a fatted calf displayed
before the market, pinched and
prodded for plumpness, good bones
and pink flesh her undoing.

Janette Schafer

Janette Schafer is a freelance writer and photographer living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is a 2017 awardee of the Maenad Fellowship in writing through Chatham University and a 2015 awardee of the Arts MODE Fellowship in experimental theater through New Sun Rising LLC. Recent and upcoming publications include: (b)oink Magazine; Nasty Women & Bad Hombres Anthology; Chatham University broadsides; PublicSource; Calamus Journal.