From Particles and Disputations: Writings for Jeff

"From Particles and Disputations" is a collection of playful, romantic, candid and personal creative writings that I wrote for my partner Jeff. From our meeting in 1982 until his death from AIDS in 1994 I marked each birthday, anniversary, holiday, and other special or difficult occasion we shared with a candid piece of writing – sometimes poetry, sometimes prose, sometimes celebratory, sometimes anguished – chronicling and reflecting upon the event. These were intimate writings composed solely for the purpose of expressing myself to one other person. Following Jeff's death I collected these writings into a “book of hours” which I entitled "From Particles and Disputations: Writings for Jeff." Read together they impart our story, a love story with a sad but transcendent ending. Read in a larger context, I believe these writings have something important to add to a much needed conversation in our society about what constitutes morality. I believe we live moral lives by establishing, protecting, and enriching the trustworthiness of our relationships with ourselves, our sense of deity, and the world in which we live. For most of us, the first and foremost ripple of our morality finds its expression is in our relationship with a mate. The trust we give to another individual to share and protect our person and our property, those most basic aspects of our being, is what renders these relationships sacred.