Antonio Pollaiuolo, The Battle of Naked Men (c. 1465)
Engraving, approx. 15" x 23"
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Battle of Naked Men 

by Beth Houston
   
  

 Hear Beth Houston
  read “The Battle of Naked Men”
  in RealAudio format.


The Battle of Naked Men





     

— Pollaiuolo, c. 1465

I don’t understand men: One wearing just
A quiver draws bow and arrow to split
The guy with axe hacking the guy who’s thrust
The guy on the cushion already slit,
Dagger stabs the neck, jab, the other’s blade
Slice, scalping, cut, bludgeon, slash machine whacks...
Two elegant warriors poised on a laid
Cloth, lest they soil their feet, dance; in their tracks,
Dropped sheaths, shields the size of a large fig leaf —
Castration complex massacre! — They should pluck
Those coconuts’ lush stylized motif
In Tarzan’s jungle, hit the baths, go duck
In some dramatic smoke-dark Castro bar,
Should read that bush’s sign: MAKE LOVE NOT WAR.

 

Able Muse