Ode to the Resting Lady (At The Art Institute of Chicago)

By: Victoria G. Smith

 

Resting,” your maker named you.
yet there’s nothing restful in your pose.
Your naked breast marks your heart—
its beating pounds in my ears.
Your pale face turns toward the light—
tell me, is it to eastern or western sun?
What troubled thoughts brew behind those eyes—
percolating grudge or bitter devise?
See:
you’re no different from me—
Woman:
restless against your fate.

 

Poet’s Notes: Years ago, I had the pleasure to view some of the art collection at the Art Institute of Chicago and became particularly interested in a painting by Antonio Mancini (Italian, 1882-1930) entitled, Resting (c. 1887). It showed a nude woman in bed, half covered by the sheets, one of her breasts exposed. What intrigued me was her facial expression, leading me to speculate on what she might have been thinking as the artist captured her beautiful countenance. What resulted was above poem.

Recently, Oscar award-winner for best supporting actress Patricia Arquette did all women a favor when she reiterated the call for equal pay for equal work for women during her acceptance speech. It is hard to believe women are still having to demand such elementary fair treatment in the United States at this time. Women, like most oppressed minorities, have had to fight for every basic human right throughout history. It shows that the dominant group in every status quo will never willingly give up its power to dictate its terms on the rest of humanity. Reason and logic have never been the primary motivation for radical change. Pain was. How much pain is necessary for human society to realize that it is only just that women finally receive equal pay for the same work that men do?

One thing I’ve learned about human nature is that our primitive instincts of self-preservation are often stronger than any moral code or ethics. Still, I also know that some of us are capable of rising to the occasion—to show the best of ourselves at the worst of times. Maybe the “resting” lady in the painting was not resting at all. She was busy plotting her escape from whatever made her take on a look of discontent. And that is why although there was pain in her expression, there was also hope. (Copyright © 2015 by Victoria G. Smith)