This month’s photo challenge features the artwork of Frederick Cayley Robinson. I originally thought the women portrayed were probably Quaker girls but, in researching the artist, I discovered the featured art is but a small portion of a much larger painting entitled “Acts of Mercy: Orphans I”. The painting is part of the Acts of Mercy series Frederick Cayley Robinson is most famous for. The series is four paintings on canvas that depict scenes from the Middlesex Hospital, 1915-20 and the two women portrayed in Visual Verse’s image are, in fact, orphan girls.
I do not consider myself a feminist, but this month’s photo challenge suggested stories of the battle’s many women have fought over the centuries and the many contributions they have made to help shape the world all without credit or acknowledgement in history.
I thought of the pioneer woman, the genteel, cultured lady, and the teen housewife all before asking who exists under the guise of womanhood? Who, truly, is the woman? Is she fierce and bold, angry, and passionate, icy, or bitter? What has she hidden to be a woman of her times?
Woman has held up the world. She has helped shape, build, and nurture it. She has certainly helped to define today’s myths, legends, etiquette, morals, and values not only by advocating but by living.
My poem seeks to show the strength of women and the spirit with which many a pioneer wife and bride of arranged marriage faced the unknown. I believe woman’s presence and companionship add a quality to tales starring men that the masculine cannot embody alone.
The following is an excerpt of my poem, Portrait as Sisterhood.
Sweet we are
Butter cookie crumbles in your mouth
The sugar granules dare
Catch between your teeth
Force you to slow down
Feel each icicle slide along your ribs . . . please continue reading here and feel free to share your beautiful thoughts!