Noah's Wife


She saw it coming, a catastrophe
worse than the awful rains, the flood.
A thousand animals aboard an ark—
in pairs no less—conjured dread:
a preponderance of fur and tusk,
goat odor in close quarters,
hordes of hippopotami, llamas, other critters
demanding stall service.

Her nose declared mutiny
long before she donned a chef's cap
in the ark's well-stocked kitchenette.
Breathing through her mouth, she fed
bleating beasts without complaint,
for Noah treated her right.
During the day, he spoke in Bible-talk,
lifted moist eyes toward heaven.

At night, snuggled under a quilt,
her man whispered tender words, made
the heat in her rise.
She loved the way animals converged in him—
one Noah was more than enough.

Shirley J. Brewer (Baltimore, MD) is a poet, educator, and workshop facilitator. Shirley won first, second and third prizes in the Maryland Writers' Association 2010 Short Works Contest for Poetry. Publication credits include: Pearl, Comstock Review, Cortland Review, Little Patuxent Review, Passager, Manorborn, Free Lunch, and other journals. Her first poetry collection, A Little Breast Music, was published in 2008 by Passager Books (Baltimore). M.A. Creative Writing/Publishing Arts, University of Baltimore, 2005.