The Wardrobe's Best Dressed: "Cleavemark" by Stephanie Ellis Schlaifer

This selection comes from Stephanie’s full-length collection, Cleavemark, available from BOAAT Press. Order your copy here.

Stephanie Ellis Schlaifer is a poet and installation artist in St. Louis. She has an MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and her poems have appeared in Georgia Review, AGNI, Denver Quarterly, LIT, Colorado Review, Fence, and elsewhere. Schlaifer was a semi-finalist for the 2015 Discovery/Boston Review Prize, and she was selected for Best New Poets 2015. Her first book, Cleavemark, is just out from BOAAT Press. She frequently collaborates with other artists, most recently with Jeff Pike on the illustrated chapbook, Strangers with a Lifeboat, and with Cheryl Wassenaar on the installation “Cleavemark Drive.” Schlaifer is a compulsive baker and is also very handy with a pitchfork.

Schlaifer’s work can be viewed at criticalbonnet.com.

Sam Slaughter is a spirits writer living in the New York City area. He received his BA from Elon University and his MA from Stetson University. He writes for The Manual and his fiction and nonfiction have appeared in a variety of places, including Midwestern Gothic, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and Heavy Feather Review. He was awarded the 2014 Best of There Will Be Words and his debut chapbook When You Cross That Line was published in May 2015. His debut short story collection God in Neon was published in 2016 published by Lucky Bastard Press. He loves playing with puppies and a good glass of bourbon.