The Closet Professor

Book of Statues
By Richie Hofmann

Because I am a boy, the untouchability of beauty
is my subject already, the book of statues
open in my lap, the middle of October, leaves
foiling the wet ground
in soft copper. “A statue
must be beautiful
from all sides,” Cellini wrote in 1558.
When I close the book,
the bodies touch. In the west,
they are tying a boy to a fence and leaving him to die,
his face unrecognizable behind a mask
of blood. His body, icon
of loss, growing meaningful
against his will.

About the Poem

Richie Hofmann’s Book of Statues is a poem about beauty, desire, and the terrible cost of hatred. The speaker begins by contemplating classical statues, objects created to embody an ideal of human beauty. As someone who loves museums, art, and history, I am naturally drawn to these opening lines. The image of a young man sitting with a book of statues in his lap feels familiar to me. The statues are beautiful, but they are also distant and untouchable.

The poem’s opening phrase, “the untouchability of beauty,” struck me immediately. For many queer people, beauty can feel like something just beyond reach. We grow up admiring others while often feeling that our own desires must remain hidden. The statues represent not only beauty but also longing.

Then the poem shifts abruptly from the world of art to the reality of violence. The mention of a boy being tied to a fence and left to die recalls the murder of Matthew Shepard in 1998, a crime that became a symbol of anti-gay hatred. The contrast is jarring and intentional. One moment we are considering idealized bodies preserved in marble and bronze; the next we are confronted with a real body broken by cruelty.

The final lines are the most heartbreaking. The murdered boy’s body becomes an “icon of loss,” “growing meaningful against his will.” No one chooses to become a symbol. No one chooses to become a martyr. Yet throughout LGBTQ+ history, countless people have had meaning imposed upon their suffering because of the prejudice they endured.

For me, this poem serves as a reminder that Pride is not only a celebration. It is also an act of remembrance. We celebrate the beauty of being ourselves, but we do so knowing that others paid a price for the freedoms many of us enjoy today. Their lives matter not because of how they died, but because of who they were.

“Book of Statues” explores the intersection of beauty, art, queer identity, and violence. Hofmann begins with the contemplation of classical sculpture and the ideals of beauty that have captivated artists for centuries. The poem then moves suddenly into contemporary history, linking aesthetic admiration with the lived reality of LGBTQ+ people.

The reference to Benvenuto Cellini’s statement that a statue “must be beautiful from all sides” emphasizes the classical pursuit of perfection. Against that ideal, Hofmann places the image of a young man whose body becomes known not for its beauty but for the violence inflicted upon it. The poem asks readers to consider how societies value some bodies while devaluing others and how acts of hatred can transform ordinary lives into symbols.

About the Poet

Richie Hofmann is an American poet whose work often explores themes of beauty, history, desire, memory, and queer experience. He is the author of several acclaimed poetry collections, including A Hundred Lovers and Interpreter of Shadows. His poems frequently draw upon art, classical literature, and historical subjects while examining the emotional and social realities of contemporary life.

Hofmann’s poetry is known for its clarity, elegance, and restraint. Even when addressing painful subjects, he often writes with a quiet intensity that allows individual images to carry profound emotional weight. In Book of Statues, he brings together the worlds of classical art and modern queer history to create a poem that is both beautiful and deeply unsettling.