It set the tone for my entire sex life — I was an eighteen-year-old virgin doing my first stint as a lifeguard at the most popular beach in the province. On sweltering days, we saw upwards of 50,000 people crowd into the smooth, pale strip of sand on the edge of Lake Winnipeg. …

Time to spice up your sex life? — The first time I sexted was awkward AF. What do you even say? How do you not sound cheesy or desperate or weird? I’m pretty sure the first time for everyone is awkward. Henry Miller loved sex workers, but his sexting? Amateurish. …

Even when we really want to — Some years ago in a stranger’s bathroom, I had a sudden moment of clarity. It was an otherwise delightful night out on the town. The pints were flowing and the dance floor was pumping. I’d tagged along with friends, but the music called, and I quickly gravitated towards another group…

It’s probably not what you think — “The dirty dishes and our sex life are related!” I yowl for what feels like the 10,000th time. My partner is getting frisky in the kitchen after a lovely home-cooked meal and a glass — ok, two glasses — of wine. It’s been a long week and I’m tired. I’m…

We can steal back our pleasure from the legislators who want to control our bodies — Everyone knows those irritating parents who are forever sharing pictures of their children. Instead, I’ve started sharing pictures of my sex toys. There are always giggles first — no matter how bizarre the object, other women recognize what I’m showing them immediately. Somehow, it always speaks the secret language of…

A freer expression of female desire could be the antidote for toxic masculinity — “I just want to feel desired,” a close friend confesses to me in a text. “There’s so much desire for the female body. As a man, I don’t receive that. I want to. I need to.” And I think of my mother, who gives me the gifts she wishes someone…

It was intimate and empowering — It was a particularly steamy summer: August arrived feisty and fiercely hot. Taking the bus was a sure-fire way to arrive at your destination absolutely drenched — walking a handful of blocks on the baking pavement was even worse. So here I was, temporarily holed up with my boyfriend and…

Free verse erotic poetry — Spring time sun shine spilling through windows greedy gilded kisses arising arousing curious & inquiring coy & cat-like ~ purring with impertinence ~ impudent & indolent skittish kitten sampling tenderly tickling toes earnest & aching flaxen liquid light ~ licking querying across my skin audacious dare defrosting bare thighs thawing dawning sap…

Tools for 2022: a year for romancing my body — “The erotic is a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings.” — Audre Lorde, “Uses of the Erotic” Recently two much-anticipated gifts arrived in the mail: a new vibrator, alluringly called “Nymph,” and adrienne maree brown’s Pleasure Activism: The Politics of…

The trip that taught me how not to miss a moment of pleasure — “Why don’t you join me here?” N. asked one evening with a coy smile during our Skype. My heart hopscotched for a few beats. Fly? To Newfoundland? On a whim? “Your no makes the way for your yes.” — adrienne maree brown, Pleasure Activism The first lover I took after…

An intimate poem — It feels like a peeling your flashing eyes like eager fingers seeking slipping in between my sympathetic skin & my unguarded flesh almost too tender almost too raw (don’t stop) exploring undiluted essence exposed. Savouring our vulnerable unearthing tastebuds tingling plunging in to fragrant & sharp citrus spray the ripe scent of…

Prose poem: Ingredients for an ecstatic appetizer — Always start a seduction with tempestuous eyes, daggers of desire that pin me into place. Pause & take stock of the pace of my breath, this revealing metronome of our unfolding revels. Listen carefully to surf my swells. …

Free verse poetry: something about pressure — Squeezed between full lips dripping desire laden thighs churning open & yearning pleasure knocking off with her stockings teeth nipping tongues sipping body mapping, grasping, avidly overlapping pungent scent ascending pulse throbbing & lurching fevered skin thirsting fingers feasting ~ cranny searching ardent. pressure. escalating. eyes sparking sighs soaring calm cracking poise snapping…

When the social rules become too binding — What is it about a full moon that makes me want to take off my clothes and race towards the nearest water? Is it something primal? Animalistic? Is there a water nymph way back in my family tree or something even wilder than that? Whatever the source, my impulse is…

Dipping my toes in leads to wonderful things — It had been nearly a decade since I’d seen Rockwell, but his silky, bass-baritone voice was just as I’d remembered. It came up from deep inside his chest and rumbled like the purr of a mischievous tiger. He could have recited Dr. Seuss and still sounded damn seductive. Years before…

It’s not rocket science — “How was the rest of your time with the doctor?” I ask my friend as we walk off the stupidly expensive cocktails we just drank. It’s a balmy fall evening and the leaves crunch underfoot. Her face instantly lights up with a glow that signifies ‘sexually satisfied,’ and she declares…

I believe in feminism spelled F-R-E-E-D-O-M — I can sum up what feminism means to me in one word: freedom. Freedom for all women to love what they love. Freedom for women to pursue their passions. Freedom for women to get higher education or social assistance. Freedom for women to have access to whatever they need, want…

Having sex with someone you love should never feel like guilt — At 19, I fell spectacularly in love for the first time. Until then, I never understood why they call it “falling,” but fall it was — headlong, headfirst, head-over-heels, in-over-my-head. right down deep into love at first sight Luke had a swimmer’s build — all broad shoulders and long legs…

And lit me up — Our eyes connected from across the street. You know that moment, right? When you happen to meet the eyes of a stranger and something like recognition — a hello from another life, perhaps, or an alternate universe — hovers in the space between you? I know you. I knew you…

A perfect night of not quite — ‘I’m thinking about buying a canoe,’ he writes at 4 am, ‘so I can paddle across the Great Lakes and find you.’ But it’s 3 am where I live and the space between us is simply too wide. Back and forth, we send texts like signal flares in the middle…