Back in October I wrote a poem about one of Mr. Renaissance's paintings. It took him a while to reply to the piece I'd written, and even when he did, he was somewhat dumbstruck by how "erotic" it is. I wondered/worried if he would be put off by having to suddenly think of me as a sexual creature (that is, someone capable of processing sexual images and writing frankly about them-- I'd never allowed that element of myself to really be dominant in our relationship, in spite of having intensely romantic feelings for him). It's not as though his piece is overtly sexual. But I called forth the more subtle themes, and expounded on those. I think he was genuinely floored.

On our way to the party on Friday night he asked me if he could put the poem on his web site once he revamps it, and includes a jpg file of that painting (which I own, incidentally). I told him that of course he could. Later, when we were at the party, he brought up the poem to a woman with whom we were conversing. He said 'I still don't know what to say about that poem...' I replied 'Why are you having such a hard time? It isn't that complicated...' And he returned 'It's so beautiful... and erotic...'

I had a dream last night in which I said to him 'The reason you don't know what to say about that poem is that it made you want to make love to me without sarcasm or irony...'