Poetry Respones

Poem

T.  A P H R O D I T A by Seth McCormick

Pale half-moon partially 

eclipsed by sand: fractured clam shell:

subtle curve 

of marbled toe—I found her 

thus forgotten:

an ancient goddess, her bones 

sun-bleached and hidden 

beneath sea glass and

sea weed

surrounded by 

fossilized limbs of echinoderms

pared radially like rose petals.

I rebuilt her on my nightstand

stacked her ribs 

one upon the other like a ladder

my eyes climb each night

in search of eternity.

Seafoam stream of ejaculate, stunted breath

eyelids half-closed with pleasure: I worship her

and she comes

to me, illustrious, deathless

as a poem

for a moment pale bone made pink

with flesh and blood.

A vision too quickly dissolved 

flaccid in the dark. But limp 

in my hand

it's all I have to cling to.

Sculpture One

For my first sculpture, I was not happy with the way this sculpture turned out. I was thinking more about the process of making it rather than referring to the poem. I really sought to make my paper sculpture deal with folding. For the triangular part, I was able to make smooth edges and gave it some texture with the repetition of lines across the triangle. I thought the triangle would be a good representation of a uterus signifying a birth of some kind. The blue and green colors would imply the ocean and seaweed where Aphrodite was born. 

Sculpture Two:

I made sure I came across the right colors that were directed towards Aphrodite, the goddess of love.  I definitely saw pale colors in reference to the quote “sun-bleached and hidden”.  For shape I pictured a round figure that demonstrates a circle of security because this poem talks about her being born and her birth is beautiful. So I decided to layer pieces of paper within a mold representing the description “stacked her ribs”. This poem gave me a thought of the paintings called “The Birth of Venus” done in the 1400s. While creating the small circular tubes, I was thinking of the colors within that painting and the “Seafoam” described in the poem. I did not want to do the tubes all the way around because it seemed too predicable. Keeping asymmetrical gave it a lightweight, elegant look.