As representative of Breyten Breytenbach’s more recent writings, the anthology of prison poems ('yk') appears to a great extent hermeneutically closed on a first reading. Recurring references to the poet’s position in his own discourse, as well as the expression of despairing feelings of depersonalisation experienced by prisoners in general, however provide the key to a possible reading of these poems, especially when analysed in terms of the French psycho-analyst Jacques Lacan’s theory of subjectivity. This article highlights relevant aspects of this theory, showing subjectivity to be a process which is always constituted in relation to discourse, and offers a reading of the poem "Nekra" to illustrate the way in which it elucidates the Breytenbach discourse.