Student Poetry Corner - Agroterê

I wrote this based on a statue of the Greek Goddess Artemis I viewed in a museum. She was hidden in the back with a cluster of other statues who were visibly decaying and ancient. There was a certain beauty in it though that caught my attention!

Agroterê

By Madison Castelli, junior psychology major

She is decaying.

You cannot tell what material she was made from,

it is almost dirty-looking now.

She is missing an arm, a foot, 

and whatever it was she held so dearly

in her hands

as if it were an extension of herself. 

Her eyes are sunken in, only her nose, chin,

and hair holding onto their details. 

I wonder how much she has seen.

All the places she has been to.

How many people handled her with care,

how many didn’t?

Who knows how long ago was she even created?

How long ago did she get here, 

and how did that journey treat her?

She is so fascinating.

I see the arch in her back,  

I feel the weight she must have carried. 

The determination seen in her clenched jaw

mends the feelings of hopelessness 

I have become accustomed to. 

She ignites that stir in my chest,

and sets it aflame with the brightest stars

 the universe could bear to give up.

I think I’ll sit with her for a bit longer.

She is so stunning.