Now available: the 2012 Naked Muse Calendar features 14 nude male poets

You might recall our excitement over the 2012 Naked Muse calendar, which we posted about in the summer when we heard that the birthday suits of British male poets were being photographed across the pond in the Lake District. Well, it's finally here! Just in time for the gift-giving season! In a "unique creative collaboration," proceeds from the calendar will go to support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in raising awareness about possible cures for Type 1 Diabetes. More from the release:

This innovative project, organised by Victoria Bennett, of Wild Women Press, after her son was diagnosed with Type One diabetes, placed male poets with female photographers to not only raise money, but to also explore ideas of male beauty. Each due were given a poem contributed by one of the 14 women poets on the subject of the male muse, and asked to respond to it. The resultant images were then placed with the poems in a 13 month calendar (an extra month for all the creative dreams we say we do not have the time for). The photographs and the poems in the calendar reflect the very different styles of each of the artists involved.

Greta Hall, the former home to Southey and Coleridge, in the heart of the Lake District, was one of the main shoot locations, with the front cover image featuring rising star poet Max Wallis, lounging on the Opium Bed in Coleridge¹s Study. The image was shot by world-renowned portrait photographer, Annabel Williams.

The male poets posing for the calendar include Antony Dunn, Andrew McMillan, Alan Buckley, Inua Ellams, Segun Lee-French, Tony Walsh, Alexander Hutchison, John Siddique, and Max Wallis, while the female photographers include Annabel Williams, Izzi Ramsay, Charlotte Medlicott, Julie Cook, Lydia Goldblatt, Claire McNamee and Tamara
Peel. Those to donate poems include Wendy Cope, Penelope Shuttle, Moniza Alvi, Linda France, Eva Salzman and Pascale Petit.

Participant and model Andrew McMillan had this to say: "Poetry perhaps is the most exposed you can get, but second to that has to be standing completely naked in a river with only a rope swing hiding your couplets whilst walking parties trek across the banks behind you!" Ain't that the truth. Buy your own 2012 Naked Muse Calendar for mom here (price includes shipping!).