Is that a theory in your pocket or are you just glad to see me? For more photos, a poem and commentary, see Larry's blog.
How would you like it if you saw your fiancé’s nekked upper-half posted on the World Wide Web for all the eyeballs to see? Well, I like it a lot, actually. Let me tell you why. But first read the first two paragraphs of “Exhibition”
this is not the jenny jones "geek to chic" reel.
this is neither the before nor the after.
this is not a critique of the heteronormative, masculinist violences that assail my thin frame.
this may be me being an exhibitionist
while wondering what my body is worth.
wondering if its the fetishization of bourgeois labor that commodifies muscle.
has my body become a non-issue?
now that i am lyons-fullwood?
it is only for our private delight.
until art
or porn
or poem
which ever comes first.
Larry’s body is an interesting sight/site for me as his fiancé, and as a reader of his work. Let me talk briefly about his words. Much of what Larry’s text represents for me is recasting and rethinking of the black male body in the frame of black homo critique. A crude generalization of what early black gay literature sought to do was assert the space to simply be (Joseph Beam, Essex Hemphill, Assotto Saint, among others.) There have been other perspectives and critiques (Lyle Ashton Harris's photographs, for example) but what I am generally assaulted with, sometimes daily, is the celebration/glorification/pimping of muscled black male bodies as a standard and for profit, be it porn, Pride celebrations, or at websites for organizations like POCC, Inc.
Good looks are a commodity, and we all know it, so I won’t bore you all with that. What I will bore you with are my initial reactions to LDL’s online exhibitionism:
Maybe someone will see what I see: the body with the words coupled with the serious silliness that permeates our interactions with one another.
Good. Larry can be nude if he likes. He’s interested in the dialogue. But is he really baring himself or is this just a trick to get us all (me included) to rethink desire and consumption? Can we just look at the photos without revealing our intentions/perspectives? No?
Larry’s phrase “uninterrupted brown” is delightful and accurate. I often look at the back of his head in the morning before he wakes, taking in the brown from his soft neck all the way to his ass. The body is a strange creature. Even when it’s not animated, it is animated with the observer’s thoughts, ideas and wishes. And if you have spent any time with Larry then you know his eyes and hands and choice of clothes for that day figure in greatly to his performance and there’s plenty of animation to go around.
My body has definitely become a non-issue in some ways since I became Fullwood-Lyons, to my detriment. Before I was working to make it my calling card, a promise of sweet sensual delights taking up residence in whateverman’s imagination. Now, it has become most utilitarian, and its upkeep has been less about attractiveness than health (breathes a sigh of fucking relief.)
Last Wednesday I was hanging out at the pier in Greenwich Village and watched the sun go down. The village had been, up until very recently, a very scary place for me. Being single and lonely and trolling the village for love was painful. The likelihood of someone meeting all my (wacked) standards for love and romance was slim, and even slimmer was my ability to not take it personally when I didn’t get “chosen” on any given night. Since solidifying my relationship with Larry, I have noticed that I am not as freaked as I had been in the past because I got “chosen.” My body is no longer on the block. But don't you believe a word of that, pumpkin.
Can you participate in a dialogue about your own body? Can you request or instruct readers to view your body/art in specific ways?
“i am a big boy
with big hands
big feet
and a penchant for stereotype”
Larry’s body expands and shrinks at will. At least in these here eyeballs. He’s slightly taller than I am, his arms are longer, his head and legs are bigger, too. Still, I am often startled by how limber he is, pleased, actually. There are benefits, you know, for the both of us. But back to Larry. He’s hyper-aware of his body and that hyper-awareness requires dialogue. I am glad someone else is weighing in on his questioning.
More nudity:
Troy pays a heartfelt homage to a fellow blogger Claystarr. The story he dedicates to Claystarr is remarkable and it features a naked man.
Y’all nekked motherfuckas can hang out (haha) with other like-minded nekked motherfuckas at the 2nd Annual Soular Nudists of Color Weekend at Summer Soular Nudist Weekend. Where? Why, at Sandyhook Beach in July, nudies. Heru has more information at his site about the festival.
I missed Ronn’s post a poem on your blog weekend this past weekend. Rats. I would have written and posted a poem about nakedness.
Donald just won Jen Bekman Gallery's first Hey, Hot Shot! Photo competition! And if I remember right, he’s naked in one of his pictures. And come to think of it, Donald’s was naked on the cover of Poz Magazine (http://blog.stevengfullwood.org/archives/000221.html) last year. Not a fan of clothes, that one.
Maurice’s love of Nikka Costa is encouraging me to take in the singer’s music more carefully. A few years ago, I don’t exactly remember the song I heard of Ms Costa’s but it was prefaced with her yelling something to the effect of “I’m a funky white bitch!” Jarring and off-putting, to say the least. Not really that interested in funky white bitches, as a rule. I also saw Nikka shake her Costa’s in a video that was more flash than substance, so I was content to admire her album cover, which seemed to indicate that the “funky white bitch” could tear it up, hair flying every whicha way. I’ll revist soon. Maybe I can find a naked pic of her on the net.
I will take EJ up on his challenge to create a music meme later this week. Go look at his. Can't parlay into a nude joke here. Not enough juice. Ah, that didn't stop me before, you say?
Black Griot posted a really nice photo of a kid in a pool. No, the kid’s not naked.
Kevin posts about the Kanye West, along with some music industry news about the Grammy-award winning artist. Oh, and by the way, I’ve heard some of Mariah’s new album via Larry, and she sounds really good. I still stand by my critique that she often records the corniest of corny songs, but her voice is indisputably phenomenal. And no, we never need to be bothered with a nude Mariah under any circumstance.
Nice sites to see: Jazz, Analog Girl in a Digital World, Ink Blotter, and Pomegranite.
Monday, April 25, 2005 @ 01:20 PM
