Category: gay photography

Henry Miller: “The Clothes He Wore, , ,”

Photographer Unknown, (Man in His Hoodie)

“What sticks in my crop about this period, when he [Conrad Moricand] was so desperately poor and miserable, is the air of elegance and fastidiousness which clung to him. He always seemed more like a stockbroker weathering a bad period than a man utterly without resources. The clothes he wore, all of excellent cut as well as of the best material, would obviously last another ten years, considering the care and attention he gave them. Even had they been patched, he would still have looked the well-dressed gentleman. Unlike myself, it never occurred to him to pawn or sell his clothes in order to eat. He had need of his good clothes.”

― Henry Miller, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch

 

James Wright: “All Flawless Hexagons May Melt and Break”

Photographer Unknown, (Tattoos in a Green Room)

“Give winter nothing; hold; and let the flake
Poise or dissolve along your upheld arms.
All flawless hexagons may melt and break;
While you must feel the summer’s rage of fire,
Beyond this frigid season’s empty storms.
Banished to bloom, and bear the birds’ desire.”

― James Wright, The Green Room

Embrace of Monstrosity

Photographer Unknown, (Embrace of Monstrosity), Selfie

“The morally cozy vision allows the embrace of monstrosity only as a reaction to suffering or as an act of rage against the Almighty. Vampire interviewee Louis is in despair at his brother’s death when he accepts Lestat’s offer. Frankenstein’s creature is driven to violence by the violence done to him. Even Lucifer’s rebellion emerges from the agony of injured pride. The message is clear: By all means become an abomination—but only while unhinged by grief or wrath.

-Glen Duncan, The Last Werewolf

Leo Tolstoy: “Man Can Be Master of Nothing While He Fears Death”

Photographer Unknown, (Thoughts)

“Man can be master of nothing while he fears death, but he who does not fear it possesses all. If there were no suffering, man would not know his limitations, would not know himself. The hardest thing is to be able in your soul to unite the meaning of all. To unite all? Pierre asked himself. “No, not to unite. Thoughts cannot be united, but to harness all these thoughts together is what we need! Yes, one must harness them, must harness them!”

― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

The Narrow Staircase

 

Photographer Unknown, (The Narrow Staircase)

“The Third Precept, to refrain from sexual misconduct, reminds us not to act out of sexual desire in such a way as to cause harm to another… The spirit of this precept asks us to look at the motivation behind our actions. To pay attention in this way allows us, as laypeople, to discover how sexuality can be connected to the heart and how it can be an expression of love, caring, and genuine intimacy. We have almost all been fools at some time in our sexual lives, and we have also used sex to try to touch what is beautiful, to touch another person deeply. Conscious sexuality is an essential part of living a mindful life (86).”

-Jack Kornfield, For a Future to Be Possible: Buddhist Ethics for Everyday Life

F. Scott Fitzgerald: “He Smiled Understandingly”

Photographer Unknown, (Relaxed in Himself)

“He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced–or seemed to face–the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.”

― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gasby