(Poem) Birth of Aphrodite # 3 by Donna Snyder

I. a golden frame empty upon an aqua wall

an empty gold frame on an aqua wall
embellished with a subtle vignette the same color of gold

creamy rich mat frames nothing
just a piece of the delicate aqua enclosed with that golden line

the image supplied
as in all instances of beauty beheld
projected visions from the mind of the beholder

the empty wall the aquaeous amniote
Beauty perfect and entire unto itself since Time severed Heaven’s cock

the golden vignette on the golden frame
the froth of waves golden in the sunlight
the birth of Beauty
free of the ownership of Gods or Fathers

the sea’s amniote
the sun-gilded waves swelling and receding a promise of ceaseless pleasure

the psychopomp’s offer of exotica and adventure
to no avail as Beauty need travel no where
infinitely available and infinitely varied

not even the sturdy arms of the artisan husband
the husband’s creation of the artifacts of fat life
the rich treasure of his own opened veins
a volcano with expectations to hold–no

behind the golden frame the aqua wall
no one captured Beauty

neither ransomned nor bought
nor yet possessed
the aspect of the great divine trinity–Beauty, Passion and Pleasure

She there inside the empty golden frame
visible to any eye could look at a plane of aqua
and see her face

II. a plate of pits the morning after

the grape skin
peeled by teeth
suckled by tongue and lips
sweetness rolling down
throat and chin
the swallowed moment
the moment spent
the moment remembered

Obviously this is about the birth of Aphrodite from the foam that gathered about the severed genitals of Uranus thrown into the sea, making her not born of a father, limitless like the sea. As well, it is about the attempts of other gods to possess her, including her husband, the smithy of the gods.

(Go to Birth of Aphrodite #1 and #2 by Donna Synder)