Venus Blushing

“This is not a love story, but love is in it. That is, love is just outside it, looking for a way to break in.” ― Jeanette Winterson, Lighthousekeeping

[cover is from “Miss Mathilde Townsend” by John Singer Sargent]

Inspired by Super Catholic Ultra Straight Girl’s makeup post, 2 new poems that stem from Venus, be it planet, symbol, or goddess. Isn’t it both wonderful and terrifying — what love does to us, what love does for us?

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Venus Blushing ¹ ² ³ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶ ⁷

Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system, and is sometimes called Earth’s twin. Venus spins slowly in the opposite direction from most planets. Venus has phases, just like our Moon – full, half, quarter, etc, though its cycles take much longer to complete. In a rather abstract way, we could say time flows differently on Venus (your “day” would be 243 Earth days long). Venus is named for the ancient Roman goddess of love, sex, beauty, and fertility, who was known as Aphrodite to the ancient Greeks. The goddess was born of the foam from the sea, from spilled titan blood.

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moth to the flame

Brighter than the king of heaven’s Love herself —
a beating heart coated in gold, breaking its shell
thrumming
 .-.. --- ...- . --..-- / .-.. --- ...- . --..-- / .-.. --- ...- .
love, love, love
.-.. --- ...- . / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / - . .- .-. / ..- ... / .- .--. .- .-. -
love will tear us apart

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slender Aphrodite has overcome me

In the moment of the clash, time thins
into a fine line,
a wispy film flashing future memories
dissolved in white light

Lying in the tall grass, I remember your hand,
its weight pressing on my palm,
shapeshifting into sunlight and dissipating
into a waterfall of warmth

This was a long time ago, I think —
somewhere far behind the fearful eye
of Andromeda.
Every moment echoes distantly:
I can't hear it
any more than I can hear the death of a star

I am now spinning
inside this pearly swirl of life,
abuzz, and stretching
its thinning body
into the shape of infinity
The darkness is deepening

and yet —
my hands don't shake as I turn to it

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Read the previous poems: age of jupiter | kimah | GJ 504 b

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1. https://science.nasa.gov/venus/

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus

3. https://science.nasa.gov/venus/venus-facts/

4. https://www.britannica.com/place/Venus-planet

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_(mythology)

6. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Venus-goddess

7. https://www.worldhistory.org/venus/