Saturday, August 13, 2011

Nude Descending A Staircase by X. J. Kennedy

'As in painting, so is poetry...' ~ Horace


Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2), 1912, Oil on Canvas, Marcel Duchamp, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Nude Descending a Staircase


Toe upon toe, a snowing flesh,
A gold of lemon, root and rind,
She sifts in sunlight down the stairs
With nothing on. Nor on her mind.


We spy beneath the banister
A constant thresh of thigh on thigh--
Her lips imprint the swinging air
That parts to let her parts go by.


One-woman waterall, she wears
Her slow descent like a long cape
And pausing, on the final stair
Collects her motions into shape.




~ X. J. Kennedy

1 comment:

  1. This is by far my favorite Duchamp work. The repetition brings to life the energy a photograph just can't capture. I'd never read the poem before, but it's a great description of the painting.

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