Re-imagining Venus

Gold cherry

By Philip Sidney

Sun, 05 Jun 2016
  • 2853 reads
9 comments
 

We met up at the V&A

like the middle-aged women we have become,

oddly competent

given where we began.

 

Not all of the sisters could make it

but we heard them chortling over our shoulders at

garish retakes on a theme,

Veni with peni,

 

long blond hair waving seductively,

an easy shorthand for beauty;

our Venus days are behind us, so we  were free to laugh

at the ugly baby Jesi,

 

the familiar, pissed off gaze

of painted ladies who

longed to be anywhere else

but in this glitzy frame

 

being milked dry

before windows, where glimpses in the distance

suggested sky and green and the possibility

of other stories.

 

We had our own

and had come to celebrate

survival; Cindy Sherman’s stick on rubber breast

seemed emblematic of trial by gender.

 

Botticelli seemed a geezer

with his boyish glance,

sardonic in his knowledge of the way of

myth-making,

 

but even he would have no skill

to paint the brilliance

of my sisters, here and elsewhere, they remain

impossible to pen down.

Certificate 12
Poetry Monthly

Comments

Submitted by Pat G on

The gentle metre, the touching humour, the warmth, all make this a memorable piece that seems to mirror the Botiicelli. Was he teasing us with irony?

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Thanks Pat :) I can't help but laugh at his paintings, as beautiful as they are.

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Thanks for the cherries.smiley

Submitted by Ed Crane on

Excellent line, I really like the light-hearted feeling to this poem. However he was a terrific craftsman in paint. My art teacher told us Botticelli had hands like bunches of bananas. I like to think that is true because it makes his finely detailed style even more admirable.

Cheers

Ed

 

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Thanks Ed :) it's amazing what banana fingers can accomplish. smiley

Submitted by VeraClark on

PS, a fresh take on what women have to deal with by gender default and via the male gaze. This is fantastic. A celebratory piece full of women's unquashable wit, health and something rarely acknowledged: you can't recreate the spirit of real woman on canvas, Botticelli or not. It's our Facebook and Twitter Pick of the day.

Get a great reading recommendation every day.

 

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

Wow!  Thank you so much Vera, what a lovely surprise.  So pleased you like it. smiley

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

What a lovely scene your piece paints - uplifting and a most enjoyable read.

 

Submitted by hudsonmoon on

Once I found out who Cindy Sherman was I enjoyed the piece even more than I did on the first read. Wonderful, PS.

Rich x