I feel the need to write this column on Erotica because of a request
from another poet to see if hers was sensual enough. This got me to
thinking. There are terms used about this kind of writing, Porn, Smut,
Erotica, Sensuality. I would normally say that all of them could fit
under Erotica, but Sensuality often feels like it verges on being
ecstatic and erotic but isn’t. So what are the differences? The Supreme
Court made it a social issue and in some ways it is. The rooster came
into use because Victorians were uncomfortable saying cock. They
declared the Ass a donkey for the same reason. Aubrey Beardsley
was considered shocking and now, while acknowledged as a great artist,
his sexuality is passé. As the Supreme Court justice said, “I can’t
tell you what porn is. But, I know it when I see it.”
I would define porn as the explicit depiction of the sexual act devoid
of little if any emotional feelings. Whether it is used for stimulation
or to express a statement of feeling, it becomes banal quickly because
we have all seen it and know what it is. There is a feeling of not
seeing anything new. It is not that sex is bad or sinful that makes it
porn, it is its lack of artistry and sensation and the fact that it too
quickly can be summed up by Shakespeare’s line as “the beast with two
backs.” Now the closest I have come to writing porn was an effort
to write about a menage e trois. The poem is called Surprise Party. allpoetry.com/Poem/1839201 even this has tints of sensuality so it really falls more into what I would call Smut.
Another poet on this site introduced me to the use of this term. It is
a step above pure porn. It is wrapping the act in a story line and
developing character interest as well as showing internal feelings on
occasion. So smut begins to edge towards real art (tricky word, but a
proper definition would take another paper.). Smut is very sexually
oriented but is written more to create a description of a sexually
pleasurable experience and take us closer to feeling what is going on.
This takes us to Erotica. It is defined as the description of sexual
love. So smut can often be erotic but not all smut is erotica. Porn is
never Erotica though it can verge on the erotic in creating desire. See
this is a continuum and in the end is really defined in detail by the
reader. The artist can only pray that they hit the mark they aimed at
well enough to be celebrated by those who want what they have created.
Erotica is seductive and at its best a celebration of the physical act
as a stunning symbol of the more spiritual aspects of love. The
artistry should not just make us aroused but more deeply appreciative
of all that is wonderful, loving and joyous about touch. Touch becomes
holy as the metaphor for all that love would share in Erotica. For
Erotica celebrates love as it describes the act. We become sensitive to
the feelings shared as well as the arousal of the partners. The central
theme is that the act of sex is a rite for expressing all of the
dynamic passionate forces that are the love within us. Good Erotica is
transporting and at the same time far more threatening for some than
Porn. Porn denigrates, while Erotica entices and seduces.
Sensuality becomes a sub context in Erotica. See Touches Me allpoetry.com/Poem/1847818 for an example.
Now Sensuality is seen by some as a sin. Sensuality is the
gratification of the senses according to the dictionary. Yet, it is the
senses that are most important to writers of poetry. There is deeply
sensual side to all poets. We deal in feelings and emotions, all the
things that most people have no words for. When we become passionate
our words wrap and arouse the reader and we stroke their senses so that
they will experience what we want them to feel as well as know what we
are talking about. So deeply felt poetry can be very sensual, without
being erotic. But, the best Erotica is always deeply sensual.
When
I first read Erotica on another poetry site, I was put off by how
devoid of sensuality and intimacy it was. It was an erotic love poem,
but I felt it focused to much on the sex and not enough on showing how
it was an expression of love. I wanted to read a poem that talked to me
of all the sensations and feelings of the lovers that built into a
crescendo of love that invigorated and enlivened them. Leaving them
spent and used in the end didn’t speak loudly of love to me. Erotica is
the expression of love in sex. I am, admittedly about the love. I began
to explore with Seaside Hotel allpoetry.com/Poem/1498207 the intricacies of sensuality.
I was forced to begin to really get in touch with my own feelings.
Where they were born and how they grew and expressed themselves with
me. I was forced to listen to my nerves and how they talked to
me. So I explored the kiss. The first kiss, the good night kiss allpoetry.com/Poem/1510652
and found that this is what moved people. Like me most people knew they
felt but weren’t often sure of what those feelings were. They just knew
they had them. I was surprised by the number of artist, I knew, who
were not always comfortable with their own feelings, let alone the
feelings of others. Then, I started writing at sixteen and often didn’t
know what I had felt until I had it all written down. What I wrote
wasn’t deeply sensual, it was just a collection of metaphors and
statements. But, it was a closer connection then I had before.
Sensuality is a gift for a poet. It comes from the hard work of digging
into oneself and becoming intimate with ones own sensations. In Erotica
it has resulted in “The Cabin at The Lake” allpoetry.com/Poem/1871843
There have been those who call this my best erotic piece. I hope that I
write better in the future because I can see much to be improved.
Outside of Erotica, my sensuality has lead to richer, denser more
passionate writes. “When The Planes Fell” allpoetry.com/Poem/2194325
is such a poem. There are 9/11 overtones in this, but it is deeper and
richer then just that because it speaks totally to loss. I could go on
a speak of Neruda, William Blake, Walt Whitman, Yeats, Browning and
others who works speak at a rich and sensual level.
In closing, I hope that this has been some help. I hope that people
will forgive me for using my own works for examples, but I know them
best.
Also I wanted to use something less professional and more personal. I
am sure that some will say none of this matters for all sex is sin. I
am sorry that you pick and choose amongst God’s gifts. There are some
who will find this useful. To those that do, I say thank you.
Thomas Burson
12:28 PM
09/12/06
Alexandria, VA
Adding your comment:
juju
Love Tom B.
Give me a couple more reads and I'd probably be able to recite them by heart.
Love, Tom B.
