Naked

The female form

is not some kind of 

wicked candy

except so far as the church 

and patriarchy

would have you believe 

from the eternal ad campaign

that women will lead you into 

temptation.

To properly desire

the curves and flat planes

and all the soft and hard

places you must first love women

which is something 

not every man can manage

and then you will find it 

easy to love who you love

and also to paint with light

many chapels of devotion 

to the daughters of the goddess

and all her faces.

Artemis at the hunt

and Persephone carrying 

her flowers into the darkness

and Hestia with a tray of

morning buns frosted with sugar and 

Athena with a spear in 

one hand and a spindle 

in the other and Aphrodite

mistress of all pleasure, now

that is an altar of abundance

worth kneeling in front of 

if you need to worship 

something. 

Aphrodite Ourania, draped rather than nude, with her foot resting on a tortoise (Louvre)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphrodite#/media/File:Turtle_Aphrodite_AO20126_mp3h9188.jpg