Phil-ing You In on Tuesday's Salon

As always, I had a marvelous night at the Erotic Literary Salon in Philadelphia this Tuesday. What made it beyond extra-special this time, of course, was sharing the spotlight* with Helia, who delighted us all with her exquisitely, enthrallingly seductive "Over the Line" (which you can read in Gotta Have It). I'm so proud!

*The spotlight comes out dark in photos.

Props to salonnière Susana Mayer for having built an event that is now attracting a full house, month after month—on Tuesday evenings, no less. It's so heartwarming and inspiring to see a bar full of friendly, enthusiastic people who are intent on performing and listening to erotic literature. I heard so much fabulous work on Tuesday—breathtaking poetry by the one and only Robin Sampson; Monica Day's stunning selection from her paradigm-altering masterpiece Song of the Sacred Whore (coming soon to Philly Fringe); a hilarious piece by past presenter Walter that was probably the best sexy humor essay I've ever encountered; a delightfully inventive and moving excerpt from another upcoming Philly Fringe show that explores a woman's wish to be a book... and more, more, more, a wealth of fantastic poetry and prose, leaving me with images such as "body language is literal" and the merging of two naked humans as evoked by a photograph of colliding galaxies.

The story I read, "Doing the Math," is one I'd long wanted to read live. If you were unable to attend the salon but wish to simulate the Jeremy portion of the evening, you can find this story online in the several webzines in which it's been published over the years, most recently Every Night Erotica (where, in compliance with their story-length parameters, it appears in two parts; I call them "part 1" and "part 2").

Thank you, Erotic Literary Salon!