Terrence, I have, I hope, absorbed the context of Johnny's message to me. I realize, of course, that the sexual acts of which he speaks are natural and evolving behaviors. I take it from the gentle and soothing and respectful texture of his email, that he might agree that the highest expression of these acts is in a mutual relationship, when our souls melt into each other in the intensity of lovemaking, and that using anyone for selfish pleasure, especially a subordinate, without mutuality, is not the best to which our bodies and spirits can aspire.
Here is a pretty love poem Johnny might enjoy:
Talisman
After talking together
we move, as by a natural
progress, to make love.
Slant afternoon light
on the bed, the unlatched
window, scattered sheets
are part of a pattern
hastening towards memory
as you give yourself
to me with a cry of
joy, not hunger, while
I receive the gift
in ease, not raw desire
& all the superstructure
of the city outside--
twenty iron floors
of hotel dropping
to where the late sun
strikes the shield of
the lake, its chill towers--
are elements in a slowly
developing dream, a talisman
of calm, to invoke against
unease, to invoke against harm.
John Montague |
