Most Read... John McAuliffeBill Manhire in Conversation with John McAuliffe
(PN Review 259)
Patricia CraigVal Warner: A Reminiscence
(PN Review 259)
Joshua WeinerAn Exchange with Daniel Tiffany/Fall 2020
(PN Review 259)
Eavan BolandA Lyric Voice at Bay
(PN Review 121)
Vahni CapildeoOn Judging Prizes, & Reading More than Six Really Good Books
(PN Review 237)
Christopher MiddletonNotes on a Viking Prow
(PN Review 10)
Next Issue Sinead Morrissey 'The Lightbox' Philip Terry 'What is Poetry' Ned Denny 'Nine Poems after Verlaine' Sasha Dugdale 'On learning that Russian mothers buy their soldier sons lucky belts inscribed with Psalm 90 to wear into battle' Rod Mengham 'Cold War Hot Air'
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
Reader Survey
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 210, Volume 39 Number 4, March - April 2013.

'Male Nude by R.B. Kitaj' and Other Poems Helen Tookey
Male Nude by R.B. Kitaj

His flank, its hollows
and solidities: ribcage,
belly, cock. His arm
upraised: the patch
of dark, its echo beneath
charcoal trace of hip-
bone. 
         Not standing-for but
standing, simply: what
then is it to be thus, plain-
spoken, in possession, undisputed?



Untitled

As though the house had pulled a fast one, rearranging
its face between your Sunday morning and
your Monday afternoon. You show me the certificate,

flourished by your brother with a smirk after
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image