Image of Aphrodite with Words of Athena
An ekphrastic tanka poem
Goddesses’ garden
stems enrich and form beauty
words all should live by
wish artists could realize
she crafted a self-portrait
Early last year I defended a young woman, new to Medium, when an established and much-beloved writer who projects an image of empathy, attacked the newbie for breaching a Medium rule of etiquette, and many commenters piled on — the worst of social media type behavior. I could tell the newbie had made a sincere mistake. Very few gave her the benefit of the doubt. (Link to that rabbit hole of a story below).
We have become close friends and I often serve as an untrained but intuitive therapist across WhatsApp as she tries to find her footing between the pulls and pushes of the traditions of her culture and her needs for fulfillment.
Two months ago she shared three hand drawings she had recently made. All good — this one I loved and told her so.
Greg: “I like the middle one the most. Not just because of the wise words. Because of the way you melded the stems with the outline of the woman.”
Friend: “How beautifully you understand the thought process behind everything I say. … I will never…
