by Jennifer Rodrigues
Last Breath
As she passed
we opened the window.
The bird sang.
The breeze blew out
instead of in.
Mary Schanuel has been a writer since she could hold a pencil and has published her work in newspapers, magazines and journals since she was 18. Her short fiction, poetry and nonfiction works have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Daily News, Working Mother Magazine, Organic Gardening, Cold Lake Anthology, Feral: A Journal of Poetry and Art, The Heartbeat, FictionWeek Literary Review, LifeSherpa, St. Louis Public Radio and others. She has written two novels, and her poetry and prose was featured in an anthology of Missouri writers, In the Moment – Writing from a Spacious Mind.
Jennifer Rodrigues currently lives on the sacred Powhatan land of Fairfax, VA. She is trained as a certified yoga therapist & trauma informed yoga teacher, is a queer military spouse, mom, & neurodivergent superhuman. She has been featured in many lovely literary journals & anthologies, & has been nominated for Best of the Net with her photography. Find her on Insta @gmoneyfunklove.