“I transform a little more each time I read the words in this Anthology. I come a little more undone through each curve, crevice, brushstroke, and intentional line I see, deeply, through the included artworks.

It is my Sensualist who becomes as I transform, though. It is my Sensualist who embodies as I come undone.

So, who are you as The Sensualist, before you peruse this Issue, throughout your perusal, and after you’ve let the art make you a new being?”

“Being a sensualist meant realizing that my body grew flowers because being sensual required so much toiling of the soil, watering with arousal of thought and actions, and deep prayer for the orgasmic joy of watching your flowers bloom.”

“What pulses at the center—what beats in the heart of The Sensualist—is the desire to co-create with the universe. To not only be a receiver, but a defender of our own sensations. To manifest our deepest truths by submitting to our shadows, our unconscious desires, and letting them roam free.”

“Never, I realized, would I stand as firm as the thick wooden cello. A man who cradles an instrument is not made to cradle a woman. I swore I would never allow myself to be taken by an artist again.”