Probably a Woman

I spent yesterday afternoon among treasures. On a whim, I tagged along with my college son who had an assignment for his Humanities class and needed to take a trip to our San Antonio Museum of Art. We have several museums in San Antonio, but I've never actually been to this one. While he wandered doing his thing, I did mine--camera and notebook in hand, looking for ideas to work into a current novel.

For some reason, this piece struck me. Marble, 2nd-1st century B.C. The information card reads: This torso of a woman probably came from a full-length statue of a goddess.

To me, this incomplete piece offered the most powerful representation of femininity in the collection. This is a woman's core. Undeniably female. The shift of the hips, the draping of the fabric. Strength and softness, even with everything stripped away. There's no face to judge her beauty, no details to define her status. Nothing to note her wit, or intellect, or talent. "Probably a goddess?" Of course, but with all aspects of her deity stripped away, she is a mere mortal woman. Her humanity remains.

I like to imagine myself within that form. That sassy pose. Perfect figure. Fabric draped precisely over my shoulder. Really, can't you see yourself in her abandoned goddess-shell? Mighty, your voice immortal.