Venus - After the Bath, by Cynthia Storrs

Venus Rising from the Sea-a Deception, formerly known as After the Bath, by Raphaelle Peale (USA) 1822

Venus  - After the Bath
 
Why hide, Venus?
Behind that curtain
or tablecloth.
Edged in gold
giving off a sheen
glistening, like an oiled body
shimmers.
 
You balance
on one slender foot
around which sweet flowers push
coaxed into existence
by your breath.
 
You tease, twisting
up your long golden locks
voluptuously
over a plump
golden arm.
 
Is your beauty too strong
for our unshielded eyes?
Or is that whiteness
a disguise for an aging, unbalanced goddess                                   
with shadows and folds
now as grey and deep
as that concealing sheet?
​
​Cynthia Storrs

​Cynthia Storrs teaches, writes, and paints in Nashville, TN.  Educated in the US and UK, she has served on the board of Poetry West (CO), Pikes Peak Poet Laureate Committee, the Pikes Peak Arts Council, and now on the Board of the Poetry Society of Tennessee. Her poetry has been published in three anthologies, Critique, Tennessee, and on-line. She has also published scholarly articles on bilingualism, biculturalism, and acculturation. Cynthia loves art history, theatre, landscape painting, and chocolate.  ​