Photograph and poem and reading by Dan Windisch January 2, 2019

Paradox and pain
 Who am I without my breasts?
 A woman? Not?
 Me? Not?
 Who am I now?

 Life or death, keep my Breast?
  
 The easy smiling soft colored blondish woman
 in the lightly red green and white faded loose cotton top,
 Smiled gently and moved with ease
 In our meditation workshop at Hollyhock.
  
 She stood out in her quiet gentle beauty.
 ————
 Evening in the hot tub.
  
 Naked we sat
 as the golden sun set
 over shining blue waters.
  
 Naked
 she enters our waters.
  
 Flat chested with a scar on one side,
 and a tattoo of a pink carnation,
 blooming,
 on the other side.
  
 She shines with beauty.
  
 She talks of her pain of surgery, confusion.
 Who was she? Was she a she?
 Without her breasts.
  
 She talked of her new blooming
 And of the flowering tattoo
 That was her new me.
 More than breasts.
  
 We are more than breasts or scars or bodies.
  
 She was the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.