The Tall Figures of Giacometti

We move by means of our mud bumps.

We bubble as do the dead but more slowly.

The products of excruciating purges

we are squeezed out thin hard and dry.

If we exude a stench it is petrified sainthood.

Our feet are large crude fused together

solid like anvils. Ugly as truth is ugly

we are meant to stand upright a long time

and shudder without motion

under the scintillating pins of light

that dart between our bodies

of pimpled mud and your eyes.

Alberto Giacometti, City Square (1948)Bronze, approximately 8.5 x 25 x 17 inches. The Museum of Modern Art, New York City.