Shaving
Maevyn Frey
About the Author:
Maevyn’s poems have been published in Slipstream, Neon Literary Magazine, Bloodlore, and others. She earned her MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2015. An educator at heart, Maevyn currently teaches yoga and writer’s workshops in Southern Arizona. She is a contributing writer at Fourth Wave, The Virago, and Prism & Pen online https://medium.com/@maevynfrey
Cover by: Adrien Gilbert (ad_glb on IG)
Shaving
For Kristopher Robin Ahng
The first time you led me by hand
to your immaculate sink
I popped up to sit on it
You showed me the ceramic cup
brush and razor
I added water to soap
and lathered your bristly cheeks and chin
Your blue eyes were the same shade
as robin eggs, I could see why
your mother gave you that feminine middle name
You wedged yourself between my young legs
pressed until I heard belt buckle against counter
The room was unnaturally still
I’d always thought I would be too afraid
to do this
The difficulty in the stroke
it must go
from bone to bone
and somehow violate the hollow between
The word trust was never spoken
and until that moment I hadn’t suspected
it would have a flavor
hanging heavy in the space between
metallic and sweet.