remember, goddess (i’m your venus)
after The Uncertainty of the Poet, by Giorgio de Chirico (Italy) 1913 and Bananarama’s “Venus,” 1986
remember, goddess, you once shed the sea’s frilly blue
rhinestone nightie, emerged from dreamy ocean
a bombshell the subject of whistle and worshipful gaze
across magazine pages. now you feel unrecognizable
but be not downcast. your carved curves still captivate,
o, sculpted buxom beauty, though men shame you in
their fatphobia and sizeism. they dare you join them in a
taunting variation on a theme of bananarama. they bully
you into unflattering poses. pictures eject from their
polaroids to whirs of laughter. mock offerings mean
smoldering black nubs of incense and rotten fruit. they beg
you nibble on fattening sweets. you envy a smooth arced
shape and creamy flesh but reject gag gifts. you long to
enter dramatic arches that lead to darkened rooms where
you once seduced men, climb atop lofty gables where
you once stood brilliant on the apex. now you cower
on this nadir of inferiority and self-loathing. you are aged
as weathered parian. still, you hope for roses and
saltwater potion. like many, i have given something other
than my best though you are this close to divine. you cannot
and should not come to grips with obscurity. i hear the grief
that swells in your contorted belly, your voice rising deep
from within the suicidal locomotive that chokes the sky
of oxygen, steams toward the cliff of nonexistence. Your
cries hoist ship sails, their heads the sharp tips that
puncture the underbelly of heaven as the ship inches close
to the edge.
the mirror reflects my aged and paunchy figure. remember,
goddess. i’m your venus. you still burn like a silver flame.
i lay bunches of admiration, love, and empathy at your feet.
yeah, baby, you’ve got it.
Rebecca Weigold
Rebecca Weigold studied English at Northern Kentucky University. Her poetry appears in many print and online publications and anthologies. One of her poems has been translated into Arabic. She has had multiple Pushcart nominations and a poem chosen as a contest finalist at The Ekphrastic Review.