Venus Stopped Me in My Tracks

Venere Esquilina
1st-century AD Roman copy
of a 1st century BC Greek original
Anonymous Sculptor
Rediscovered in 1870

Note from the poet: "unlike Michelangelo's David (the one thing i wanted to PLEASE PLEASE MUST SEE on my Italy trip last week - and ohhhh, phenomenal), i had never heard of this statue before seeing her in person in Musei Capitoline. she glows. she simply stopped me in my tracks to dance along my soul."

esquiline venus.

fall into
the earth scented cushion
of my lap

i will stay here
still and soft,
brown and marble moss

i am rooted to ground
buried with rock and quill

here

i will receive
your joy insecurity pain,
here i will receive your
regret, your
hope

i will hear your question
yearn
and stay virtual silent
till the answer sings
to your own inner ear

the confessional
behind my knees
will absolve and cleanse your
pleas(e)

when you stand back up
you will be
natured
nutured whole
again

you will be

sculpted

returned to yourself
through a goddess
vessel
affirming chi

beware the rattle bones
the pulling
ornaments of favor
without heart

beware the candy
of distant sweet

ignore the broken limbs.
i mourn the iris of your eye
the heat of your chest
your belly fire

i mourn the days
we walked the loch
and did not taste or see...

get up

get up now

get up and breathe
and want me

polish and
pedestal me up

get up, my human,
break fast
and be.

###
~Tammy Sandel
Autumn 2015

Now here's the thing:
Tammy's timing of sending me the Venus was perfect!
When she texted me the above photo and poem from Rome,
I was in Maryland, standing in front of this very statue,
whose arms seem to echo those missing from the Esquiline Venus ("...frequently restored in paintings but never in reality."):

That kind of morning...

See Previous Post:
"artifce." by Tammy Sandel