519. Sensual

                 

                      BROWDERBOOKS

Two days ago I declined a contract with a small press to publish my collection of short stories, Wicked City: Stories of Old New York.  I did this because

• The contract ran for five years --  too long!  Other publishing contracts I have signed ran for one year, or two at the most.
• If, for a given sales period, my paperback or e-book sales were under $100, they could terminate me.  I would love to have $70 or $80 or $90 in sales for a given period, yet I might be terminated.

I have learned to keep control.  To do this, I either self-publish, or publish with a small press under a hybrid contract,  A hybrid contract gives the author access to the services of a small press, but lets the author keep control; only the author can terminate the book's publication and sales.  I was terminated once by a small press, which chose not to renew my contract when it expired.  That isn't going to happen again.

Moral of the story: When you sign a contract, read all that fine print and ponder it.  Weigh carefully what's in it for the other party vs. what's in it for you.  Don't be hasty; think! #Browderbooks

Okay, now let's get sensual.

                                     Sensual

First of all, what does this word mean?  "Relating to or involving gratification of the senses and physical, especially sexual, pleasure," the online dictionary states.  Aha, sex!  And because it implies sexual pleasure, the Christian tradition of the West gets nervous.  The thundering God of the Old Testament was not a God to mess around with, unlike the pagan gods of the Greeks and Romans.  Those pagan gods were always diddling one another, plus assorted nymphs and mortals.  And the gentler God of the New Testament, embodied in Jesus, was likewise leery of the sensual, though not given to tantrums and volcanic fulminations in discussing it.  But is sensual really such a big deal?  Let's see who and what are sensual.

Cats are sensual.  Just watch them stretch and strut.

Sharks are sensual.   See them in an aquarium, as I have done.  They twist, dart, plunge: streamlined killing machines, sleek and supple, with savage teeth and an evil grin.

Snakes are sensual.  Their skinny bodies slither in sexy curves, as they flee through the grass at our approach.  Few of them are harmful, and they have the good sense to get out of our way and avoid us.  We are bigger than they are, and in nature that's what counts.  I find them both sensual and beautiful.  

Art is sensual.  Think of all those roly-poly Venuses painted by Rubens and Titian.  And if plump doesn't turn you on, how about Botticelli's Birth of Venus, showing a young girl slender, naked, but almost modest in appearance -- for me, a subtly sensual work.  And if it's young guys you crave, there are loads of martyred Saint Sebastians bristling with arrows in their flesh.  

Is music sensual?  Ravel's Bolero, repeating the same theme with slight variations endlessly, is overwhelmingly sensual.  Bizet's Carmen is the super vamp of all time. And plenty in Wagner is sensual, though usually balanced by a Christian theme.  And for me, all violin music is exquisitely sensual.

Is dancing sensual?  If you feel the music go through you, as I often have, you surrender and do the waltz or lindy or boogie.  So good-bye reason and common sense and whatever else holds us back.  Jive, gang, jive.  Wahooo!

Flowers are sensual.  Those pretty little dainty things, smelling so nice, are really whores flaunting their private parts.  No human could get away with it, not without consequences.  Naughty lilies, wanton roses.

But not everything is sensual.  For instance:

• Willows are sensual, oaks are not.
• Wine is sensual, beer is not.
• Eve was sensual, Adam was not.  

Adam was a good hunk of muscle, but not too bright; Eve was sensual to the core.  Of course she listened to the slick spiel of that evil Satanic snake, grabbed the forbidden apple, and got Adam to chomp.  Result: they were both kicked out of Eden.  So good-bye paradise.  We've all been sweating and straining ever since.  

Thanks Big Mama Eve.  If what they say is true, sweetie, you bamboozled Adam and axed us all.  But maybe we shouldn't blame you.  Maybe we should blame that cunning snake, or the Higher Authority who set the whole thing up.  Anybody but ourselves.  Maybe.

So is sensual really a big deal in the world?  Yep.  And are we humans sensual?  Utterly, totally, flat-out, gung-ho sensual?  You bet your sweet ass.  Like Eve, we're sensual to the core.

©  2021  Clifford Browder