Echoes scrub as thoroughly
as the rags on the skin
of women naked
to the lamplit dome.
Tapered lines of supple
legs form triangles
pointed skyward, and hairless
skin drips parallels
of sweat and soap
as a Cleopatra’s pentagon hand
dips into the oval canyon
that bisects her hips.
Across the room, Helen’s circular
face smiles above the spheres
of toned breasts and the concentric
circles of areola and nipple.
Next to her, the full stomach
of a Villendorf Venus lounges.
Her symmetrical hips
are lined with silver spider webs;
the brands of child birth
A Baroque woman traces
da Vinci’s muscles with soap
and rags, outlining their
formations; the parabolic
Crest of Ilium supporting
the Möbius External Obliques,
the Flexor Digitorum Brevis
sending rays from ankle
to toe. Diamonds
mark the women’s limbs,
the Bicep Femoris, the
Tibialis Anterior, and the
Flexor Digitorum Profundis.
The vibrations of the echo
and the texture of the rag
make nerves fire, and slowly
the lines of the women blur
and relax, removing hard
geometrics and leaving
the undefined form of female.
*Hammam - a Turkish bath house
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