Pictures at an Exhibition

1. The Bum Not Mentioned
                                                      [From I thought It Was in A Boy’s Will]

Overheard an anaemic young Englishman
Talking to his French friend in good French
But rather nebulous terms
About the penis concept in art.
It doesn’t matter to the concept
Whether it is lust-induced or not
Desire-borne or else, the concept
Stands for itself, and so does penis
But the anaemic young Englishman
– And I heard Oxbridge through his good French –
Still tried to foist some figment of his on a ruddier guy
Who may have considered the figment
Or that pale young Englishman
Inextricably clinging to one another
And yet very unrelated.


2. Gender Bias

There were always groups of girls
Clustered before the naked men, chattering
Circles of at least three, the males heroic, some pierced with
___________________________________________arrows
But mostly solitary, behind them only august landscape, and
In their time surely not meant to be
Evaluated by a hen party.

In these halcyon days it was Paris who judged the graces
And men were decent in the presence of nude young ladies
They chose in silence.

I damn well know that it is nothing but sheer justice
That now females decked in exhibit attire
May overtly appraise any beefcake in the buff

Yet I must say that this being the case
I even more deeply admired my pictorial congeners
Who weren’t ever talking back
But kept on standing erect or reclining
Muscles unflappably taut, eyes upward-looking
Just as in making up their minds
Wordless, alone and for themselves
Like real men.


December 15, 2013