Stories

Two men in a train compartment. One man thinks he may have shocked the other, who springs a surprise of his own.

Strolls; encounters; kisses through closed gates; lighted windows seen from below; rumpled bedsheets turning up men’s shirts . . . These are just a few of the images in August Stramm’s poetry collection titled “DU” (“THOU”).

What follows is a complete, fresh-look translation of the thirty-one poems of this set.

Boston, 1975. Charlie spends time with a co-worker. Romance blooms.

The world's oldest known epic poem is a story of the love of two men. This is my take on the Epic of Gilgamesh, in brief.

A spiritual journey back to the belovèd, Siraj Aurangabadi’s epic narrative poem from 1738 presents a happy male couple split by deceit, sending one off on a quest to find himself and the true nature of God’s primary gift to humanity: love. Along the way, he meets a colonel’s son who offers him lifelong devotion, but our brokenhearted hero must be on his way again, to meet his ultimate fate, alone.

14 days lasts the sea voyage across the ocean to the temple island.
14 days is all Eve has to find someone among the passengers who will be accepted by his deity as his spouse in order to escape life in the temple.
14 days he has to endure his violent brother in a confined space.
14 days Beckett must surround himself with suitors for the sake of his father, even though he can hardly wait to join the temple.
14 days in which his devotion to his deity is challenged by Eve's hunger for life.

“The wound caused by a sword can eventually be healed; the hurt resulted from vicious remarks can never be undone.”

Under the rule of the Second Emperor of the Guan Dynasty, the Empire has begun to fall into civil ruin, with conspiracies running rampant and political unrest echoing throughout the land.

Yan Rui, a peasant of the lowest caste, has always been ugly since he could remember. Harassed and ridiculed because of his looks, the most he can do to stay alive is lick the feet of the wealthy and pray for scraps.

But when a blind man stumbles into his life, even the ugliest person can have a heart of gold.

A romance suggested by the song "Waltzing with Bears," a song by Dale Marxen adapted from the Dr. Seuss song of the same name. Although the "present day" of the story is 2011, the events related in it take place in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.

Jim and his partner Michael live in a socially-oppressed town where being gay is a sheer moral death sentence. At the dawn of the computer era, and in an age where work seems to find him little money or pleasure whatsoever, Jim decides to venture into the world of computer sciences, all the while supporting a man who seems all the more removed from society as time goes along.

Various essays, many on LGBTI2S+ subjects, but some on music, etc.