A reader asked me to deconstruct a few particular lines from Love in Extremes. I thought that I would share my answer on this thread.

The lines are:

Moving my naked body against yours
Like a strong wind
Lifting you off your feet
My colors are violent
With crimson edges
Purples so deep
You rethink the beauty of black

(Take a look at the poem for context https://www.lushstories.com/stories/erotic-poems/love-in-extremes.aspx)

Dear Reader, (I like saying that)

Let's see...

Trying to tell someone why you said what you said, and why you chose to say it the way you said it at that particular moment, is hard. I generally pass.

I'm more interested in what confused you about those particular lines. Your answer could quite possibly help my writing. I'll answer you and you can answer that for me.

I'm really quite literal in my descriptions, describing a feeling or an image. It's a challenge and that's where the art in it all lies, I suppose. I like to think that I turn the complex into something simple. But...https://static.lushstories.com/emoticons/lush/forum/dontknow.gif

The poem is a study of contrasts, both in poetical and life preferences.

So, here goes:

Have you ever stood naked in a strong wind and just felt it come at your body? It's like swimming naked. The absence of anything between you and the water heightens everything.

I love nature, the power of it--in both the ability to create, to sustain, to deny and to destroy. The wind, to me, represents that power. I like the slightest feel of it, the sound of it, to see evidence of it. It's quite spiritual to me. To me sex and love (and even passion) are similar.

Here's one scenario. I spend most of my Summers now at the beach. On the Southern end of the East coast there are hurricane like winds sweeping off the ocean. (There are actually hurricanes too, but that's another scenario.) You can just get a taste of how it might lift a tree, a house, a boat--yourself. It's a threat, yet exhilarating at the same time. I don't care what you try to do, you can't control it.

The speaker in the poem, she can't be controlled either and she's strong. She's strong enough to bare herself completely, strip herself naked (physically and emotionally). She's bold and sensuous enough to go skin on skin with you. She's strong enough to lift you up, like a strong wind. Once again, it's physical and emotional. For me it works on several levels. Literally she can help you stand when you are weak.

Spiritually and sexually? Think of that feeling you get before you come hard, that lifting, the surrender, the floating sensation, the panic, and the relief right before it all just drains out of you.

That's what I was thinking of.

I think.

And...

Her colors are the opposite of just peach and pink and violet--soothing hues. She stirs the emotions; her colors are violent. They evoke. Crimson edges make you think of those hybrid roses. I also think of blood that has done its job and on its way back to the heart to be cleansed. Purple black is a deeper shade of black. Blue black is a common euphemism. Purple, to me, is more regal and deeper than blue. It's a type of black that glows.

Different shades of black, variations of darkness, it's a concept that makes you reconsider the idea of darkness

Of course all of this may not even apply. It could have not really been all that consciously planned out when I was writing it. It came to me, I wrote it down and it just felt good and I didn't want to delete it. https://static.lushstories.com/emoticons/lush/forum/kekekegay.gif

You could fill in the spaces between the lines with your own imagination or the influence of your own experiences. I wish that I was talented enough to give that space to my reader. https://static.lushstories.com/emoticons/lush/forum/dontknow.gif Then it wouldn't just be my poem, but you would feel yourself in it too. I'll get there eventually. Hopefully.

Sharing poetry is a risky thing. It's like singing in the shower. It sounded beautiful while you were in there making all that noise, but you can't guarantee that your neighbor agrees. You don't apologize because if you are lucky enough you'll be belting the tunes out tomorrow too.

I'm just honored to be read. https://static.lushstories.com/emoticons/lush/forum/notworthy.gif:

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