goddess, how we worship you; erudite, mother,
innocent in the lust that cradles your crown.

we sit, spiritually opposed; sepia-rich, tamed, worked, upheld for archetypes both soft and succumbed. i wonder how mars would have held me in his calloused hand, a fragile belizean gyal, firey, singeing lifelines; body tempered by the weight of ancestry’s sword, turning pelvic curves into child-rearing hips before learning myself, my heart.

sable venus; built, fortified, slaying serpents in her sleep. gods and cherubs hover, crowd, marvel at her strength to carry. sketched, etched, devoid of the yolked hues delicately painting her counterpart; two halves of the same whole, reared and ready for the taking. how long have you been studied? when will you reach shore?

bargaining beauty, we reimagine form; collaging memory, stitching meaning from the trails of sweet songs passed down, lexicons laden in the stars. we weave identity from proximity, external in approach, crafting context where history cannot. seen and not heard, how can you learn to be when your mouth is constantly covered? screaming for sight, safety (seeing the mirror to freedom).

we guide one another home through our becoming; the rebirth of our venus – life force, divine feminine, birthright; coveting her essence, unflinching in our resolve to remain human (beautiful, brilliant polaris).

we soften into reality’s cup – sacrament. venusian, spirit and source code, shapeshifters aligned to god’s plan.

(left-right) Thomas Stothard, The Voyage of the Sable Venus from Angola to the West Indies c. 1793; Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus c. 1485; Alice Diop, Fragments for Venus, Miu Miu Women’s Tales #30; Mickalene Thomas, je t’adore (November 1981), Yancey Richardson Gallery 2023; Tschabalala Self, Damsel 2019; Southern University fabulous Dancing Dolls 1970; Alcorn State University Golden Girls, inaugural season 1968; carla williams, tender 2023; carrie mae weems, not manet’s type 1997; simone leigh, Sentinel IV 2020; Hansel Mieth, Harlem Renaissance Artist Augusta Savage With Sculpture 1938; Chantal Regnault, Tina Montana at the Avis Pendavis Ball (Femme Queen Realness) 1990; Eartha Kitt, london 1951; Nona Faustine, They Tagged the Land with Trophies and Institutions from their Rapes and Conquests, Tweed Courthouse, NYC 2013; sade, love deluxe 1992