Toi James is one of my writing students. In class, while reading her homework, I was constantly awed by her abundant talent and her lyrical way with words. She was one of the first writers I asked to contribute to this anthology. She did not disappoint. Her erotic piece is beautifully penned in a classic, 'erotica as art' styling. This is her first published piece, and I guarantee, it won't be her last. Remember her name....Toi.
Toi James
Bubble Music
"You can pose me any way you like and paint me any way you like." His voice deepens with an air of naughty professionalism, "You can touch me anywhere you like. I'm your subject, your model, your canvas. While we're here, I'm yours for you to do with whatever you think is beautiful."
"Do you have any clothes?" I wince, already knowing the answer.
"No. I'm sorry, I don't have any available for you."
"Why?" My curiosity speaks before me. "I mean, what makes somebody want to stand naked in front of a room full of people?"
"It's a long story, but the short version is, I'm curious. The body and mind want to do so many creative things, but there are all of these rules. 'Do not,' 'Thou shalt not,' 'Restricted,' 'Prohibited.' The only rule should be consent. I just want to see what people will do in a space where it's okay to let their imaginations run wild." Then he leans in and whispers, "What's going through your mind, Gracie?"
My yani warms and loosens. I have a flash of vision and almost feel him moving inside of me. I take the last gulp of champagne from the flute and let the bubbles work their magic.
I sit the caddy down on the floor and walk around him to see what I'm working with. He's just as perfect on the back side as he is on the front. I look at the muscles in his back and how they dip and rise and roll from left to right when he moves. The small of his back curves down and out to the most perfect roundness I have ever seen. It's full and tight and caves in on the sides. I want to touch him right there, but it's too much for me. I just might kiss the spot. My heart is pounding so hard I can hear it in my ears and pulsing against the band of my panties. I squeeze my yani one more time. My toes tingle, and I feel my panties get warm and sticky.
"You know, God made rules for a reason," I say.
"Then God shouldn't have given us imaginations and free will."
Dang it! I'm out of champagne.
The temperature in the room has gone up twenty degrees, and I am starting to sweat. I reach into the caddy and pull out a paintbrush--the longest one I can find. I start with his chest and move across the contours of his body, all of the peaks and valleys of him, the firmness of where is is flexed and the softness of where he is relaxed, the bones in his feet, and the veins that connect everything. Nothing else matters right now except for him. When I think I am done, I realize thirty minutes have gone by, and I step back and see what I have done. I've detailed him with bright, abstract designs over most of his body--a painted pony--but when I scan his entire body, I see there is one part of him that is noticeably unpainted, untouched by my hand. I laugh at how ridiculous he looks and how stupid I must look as his artist. I look him in the eye, and then drop my gaze. Jesus, it's a prize!
"Anywhere?" I try to contain my own dirty little smile...
Goin' Deeper with Toi
What is your erotic point of view? When I decided to write erotica, I started thinking more about sex than I have ever in my adult life. Once I turned on the "sex switch," I realized there is sex in almost everything, just as there is life in almost everything--even the things we've left for dead or stamped "asexual." My erotic point of view is to bring back to life, through sex, the things we ignore everyday. I call it the "forgotten sexy." Why not start with a Bible-thumping abused diner waitress who can't even think about sex without having a minor psychotic break?
What's the hardest thing about writing erotica? Writing erotica has to be one of the most difficult things I've ever done in my life. An erotic writer has to craft her words in such a way as to bring the reader beyond the cognitive, beyond the emotional, and into the physical. An erotic writer has to literally touch her reader with intangible words. Now try doing it without using any "dirty" words. How do you do that? It's so fucking hard, it's maddening!
What is the best thing about writing erotica? The residual sex. Letting your imagination branch out into all of these seductive possibilities is very sexy. Writing
Bubble Music was a booster shot to my marriage!
What's the sexiest part of a man? His lips and the words that come from them.
A woman? Her breasts. They're life!
Finish this sentence. "I've never been very aggressive,
but I'd love to try going back in time to jump my high school crush."
Top or bottom? Depends on how good a shape I'm in.
Vanilla or chocolate? Dark chocolate.
With or without nuts? Lots of nuts.
Sexiest city in the world? My home town because that's where it all goes down!
Sexiest vacation spot? Tahiti
Favorite nasty word? Any word can be nasty in the right context. Mine is "lick."
Least favorite? Mama or any derivative of it.
Toi James is a true wordsmith. She is an alumna of the Guy A. Hanks-Marvin Miller Screenwriting Program (aka The Cosby Show). She has written several screenplays, poems and short stories. She put her creative writing down to receive her doctorate in Communications Studies, and after establishing herself as an academic, she has picked up her pen again to pursue her first love--writing stories.
