The platonic blow

New York : the Fuck You Press, 1965. First separate edition. Quarto, printed wrappers, pp. 12. Limited to 300 copies, 10 additional deluxe editons in three variations also printed.

The platonic blow, sometimes known as The gobble poem, is an gay erotic poem which graphically describes an act of oral sex between two young men. Originally composed in 1948, it circulated in manuscript and without authorship until published in Volume 5, No. 8 of underground New York magazine Fuck You and separately published, crediting Auden as the author in this offprint. The poem was reprinted in a number of other publications including Suck in 1969, and while Auden would privately admit authorship to his friends he would deny publicly his involvement up until his death.

The platonic blow is considered a key work in twentieth century erotic poetry.