There is a fascinating excerpt from Clean: An Unsanitised History of Washing, by Katherine Ashenburg in today’s London Times.

Excerpt from Clean: An Unsanitised History of Washing, The Times, London

In the spirit of the book, I thought I’d quote My Masculine Skin, from my last book of poems, Dialogue in Fading Light (Dublin, New Island Books, 2005).

You can download a free copy of Dialogue in Fading Light at Irish Literary Revival.

My Masculine Skin

I would as soon not shave or shower.
I’d rather remain pre-Victorian,
and leave my hair for birds to nest in.
It would be good to lie on in bed
for weeks, letting the sheets slowly rot,
a sprawl of worthless books quarter read,
the mould on the dishes getting drier.

However! Happy as a pig in flight,
though still disdaining deodorant,
if I smell only
of my acidic masculine skin
and not of a stinking netherworld
I would wallow in,
it’s because you draw me to the light.

My Masculine Skin, a poem by Philip Casey, is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.