Carl Phillips, from “Civilization”, Then the War: And Selected Poems, 2007-2020

be greedy with me… be tender with me… do both at the same time

The Glass Essay, Anne Carson | Molly Brodak, Molly Brodak

From "Come Closer"

We exist only if we are real to others.

~ 3000 years of longing

“Love is a gift. It’s a gift of oneself given freely. It’s not something one can ask for.”

- Three Thousand Years of Longing

02|14|22

Most days I imagine a man strong, soft, towering, loving, overwhelming who'd wrap his hand around my neck and squeeze. Who'd hurt me not because he genuinely wanted to, but because I knew he loved me so much and never let anyone hurt me aside from him— he could hurt me but all while making me feel endlessly good and desired while doing it. Maybe it is some sick twisted way the human psyche works, but I just know I want it desperately. For his hands to pull, grope, gripe, squeeze, and caress at every part of my body until I feel like nothing but his. I want my mind to forgo every responsibility, insecurity, and worry for feeling overwhelmed, lustful, and passionate.

To have a man look me in my eyes and see the desire of his soul for me, I could feel I have seen all the wonders of the world within his eyes. His lips to kiss my neck as if I could break and he wishes to savor & worship my skin. To have his large body cocoon me underneath him— like a shield blocking and protecting me from all the wrong in the world. I want him to tease me, praise me, mock me, unravel me with his velvety voice as he holds me down-- in place— as if he knows I would try to escape all his attention if I thought for too long.

I just want him to make me feel the pleasure I have never felt before from within. Break me down into a thousand little pieces of myself all to build me back together again. Take my breath away, etch himself within me, and bruise me if he wanted to. I want to cry from how good and overwhelming he is without any other thought except him within my mind. I want to feel all this while being undeniably in love with him, and him the same with me. I want him to feel like my presence makes everything better, that I have changed his life for the greater, that I am a person of great value and beauty he will never get tired of seeing. I want to feel like a woman he couldn't see how he has lived life without until he met me. And I want to feel all those things too for him— evenly yoked in the cruel search for love & meaning.

[…]

It is a curse to want to love men, to want to love another being in honesty. But if there is a chance that if I have to suffer a few more years to get such a slice of heaven on earth as that... I would wait patiently for such a pleasure.

thank you <3

— unedited, some parts removed for privacy.

Iván de Pineda for GUCCI by Mario Testino 2003

“Alchemy happens when you look into your lover’s eyes as you are being fucked really slow. When you allow yourself to completely surrender and move THROUGH feeling nervous and checking out, having butterflies in your belly, or rejecting the natural intensity that makes you want to look away and instead tune into the sensation and shared connection, the game changes. Allowing your lover to witness you being out-of-control and completely vulnerable is how you heal sexual trauma and the accompanying sexual shame, and open up spaces of immense pleasure, play, and freedom.”

— India Ame’ye Author, Sexual Innocence (via eatmangoesnekkid)

— Funny Story by Emily Henry

Natalie Wee, Least of all