After Francesca Woodman, Untitled, 1980, from the caryatid series
Caryatid: a stone carving of a draped female figure,
used as a pillar to support the entablature of a Greek or
Greek-style building.
Here, headless.
Blacked out.
Cleaved below
the knees.
Abbreviated,
undraped. Shaped
for maximum
utility. What is
a woman for?
Take one away
and the whole
collapses, and
isn’t she lovely
in her devotion?
Exposed here,
the sepia body
bleeds into ivory.
You couldn’t
make it to
the 21 st century
Francesca,
rendered yourself
self-less. One hand
clasps the shutter—
release. Cord
spilling out of frame.
The core awash
with light. You are
a woman. You were
a woman.
