Nu Couché by Patrick Trombly

Modigliani’s Nu couché (Reclining Nude)

Préférez-vous les Odalisques d’Henri Matisse

or Venus, or Louis Fratino's dudes?

My go-tos are Modigliani's nudes

whose show was shut down by the French police.

The red one - IMO, his masterpiece,

speaks through her pose: "come close - I'm in the mood."

Her directness is empowering, not crude,

just pure and honest, without artifice.

She lived in Midtown but has since moved far,

where I'd be black bagged if I tried to go

because I tagged some of their embassies

with stickers (even put one on their car)

of the Lama, Falun Gong, a bear you know,

tank man, and the flag of the Taiwanese.