Sex should be enchanting, intimate, spine-tingling - just like a good poem. The way that vulva owners experience pleasure is so unique, and sexual poetry can offer up an ode to this sensuality.
For centuries women have put pen to paper to lyrically express their sexuality, and engage with their senses with breaths between stanzas and erotic expression. Yet nowadays it feels different. Poetry feels more accessible and open - we’re never too far from the scroll-stopping, thought-provoking, save-worthy Instapoetry - a generation of writers inspiring us to pause and connect with our imagination.
The fact that this coincides with the self-love revolution, where vulva owners are owning their own sexuality and creating safe spaces for open conversations about pleasure and sex, feels like no coinicidence. We’re tuning in with our bodies, our desires and our thoughts - taking time to get to know ourselves; sensually and sexually.
What does sensuality really mean?
The word sensuality arises often when we talk about the beauty of poetry and pleasure. Both awaken the senses, and invite us to explore different sensations with different senses - visually, physically, audibly. Sensuality is the feeling of having those senses pleased. The word is also synonymous with sexiness and passion; the expression of sexual pleasure. Therefore, it’s personal to each and every one of us. We asked real Instapoets for their take on sensuality...
Marya Layth: Sensuality, for me, is the tangible expression of our desire to experience closeness.
Charlie Brogan: Sensuality to me means being completely in tune with yourself, knowing what you desire and being unafraid to ask.
Charlotte Moore: Without sounding like an etymologist, the word sense plays a huge part. Creating the right environment to feel sexual, whether that’s mood lighting, candles or cotton sheets. For me, it’s a great pair of knickers.
Michaela Angemeer: Sensuality means connecting with yourself. Doing whatever makes you feel good in your body. It’s a very Venusian concept to me, so I love playing with beauty and luxury to make myself feel special—perfumes, lotions, oils, matching underwear, a good playlist—whatever makes me feel more in tune with how I’m feeling.
Chloe Laws: To me, it’s about feeling comfortable in myself. It’s about discovering my queerness, my openness and connecting with pleasure in a shame free space. It’s, in its most basic form, tapping into my senses.
6 poems about the clitoris.
As one of the most stimulating parts of a vulva owner’s anatomy, the clitoris inspires pleasure and sensuality like no other organ in the human body. Yet, so little is known about it still. It wasn’t until the late nineties when urologist, Helen O’Connell, published a comprehensive study of the clitoris which concluded ‘that current anatomical descriptions of female human urethral and genital anatomy are inaccurate.’ *insert exploding head emoji here*.
With that in mind, we challenged our favorite poets to write a piece that brings sensuality and sex education together, because to truly discover ourselves and inspire others to do the same, we need to understand the full potential of female pleasure. Vulva-tingling and brain stimulating - get yourself a poem that can do both, right?
1. ‘The clitoris is the one organ on the human body that’s sole purpose is pleasure’ by Charlie Brogan
There is a part of you, that exists only to shock
You into life. A part of you that exists only to make you boundless.
To make you animal, teeth bared and shining. Which is funny, because
For centuries, you were too powerful to comprehend,
You were untapped, unsung, your body a clouded paperweight.
But now! Now, this sweet power will beckon you
Like a curled finger, and honestly, you’ll taste the best of life
You’ll taste it something like this -
One lazy afternoon, time will slow suddenly, and you’ll notice
How the grass feels on your thighs underside,
You’ll follow the veins of your city home, electric bodied and thirsty.
You’ll pause to explore the ruby landscapes of yourself and remark
Thickening hips, dilated oil black pupils, softness
Like the mouth of a rose bud, your desire, hungry like the bed of a well.
You’ll swell like hot dough and you will study
Yourself, the boundlessness, the slippery beach pebble
Between dampening fingers, you will expand into a hot pulse
Lifted above fresh linen, beating fantasies
Aroused behind soft closed lids, and it will catch
Your breath like a secret, this solitary rapture,
And you’ll realise the power, the pleasure, darling, it's all yours.
2. ‘The clitoris will all its 8,000 nerve-endings’ by Mayra Layth
Calling between legs of earth
A flower summons the storm,
Watch how eight-thousand secrets rebel against
The heavy breath of their keeper’s lungs
3. Clitbait by Charlotte Moore
Why do they say vagina, when they mean vulva?
So uninterested, racked with shame,
They don’t even bother to teach us their names,
We look down at our bodies, unable to label where we bleed from.
Because vulva is offensive. Too adult for little girls to learn,
Men get foreskin, testicals, we get concern,
Over virginity and modesty, fanny and muff
Why bother with consent, ‘you’ll like it rough’,
And why say breasts when you can say tits,
You’re 17 years old when figure out you have a clit,
And, one in five don’t know in 2021
Where we wee from or how we cum,
So, we google and read, trying to figure it out,
With a mirror or diagram, racked with doubt,
And, even a mirror can’t help you with this,
What you see with your eyes is only part of your clit,
The other three quarters are hidden away,
Our vulvas are more than what’s on display,
So here I am, trying to learn about my vulva,
Because sex education is far too vulgar.
4. You Deserve Pleasure by Michaela Angemeer
you deserve pleasure, in the tiniest
moments. In the first breath you
take when you wake up. when you
feel the most yourself and when
you can’t recognize yourself
anymore. you deserve freedom. joy.
bliss. toes curled and fingers
clenched. you deserve to be heard.
screams. laughter. sighs. you
deserve climax and release. the
universe is waiting for you. you
deserve to receive.
5. The Clitoris Grows by Jimanekia Eborn
The clitoris grows throughout our lives
when we are 32 years old, it doubles the size.
The right touch to the clitoris can feel like art.
Finding the right motion, touch, speed
It can make sex feel like poetry, change your experience in one breath.
The clitoris grows throughout our lives
when we are 32 years old, it doubles the size.
6. Not a Greek Mythology by Chloe Grace Laws
Tiresias knew, and so do you
Women. Definitely women.
And as Hera struck him blind, were we
all unable to see for most of time
Eyes are opening now but it wasn't
until 1981 that we even learnt your
true size
Told you're a bean to flick, a pea for a
princess
Hard to find to the naked eye, and the eye
But you get hard too, grow with
pleasure
Blood rushes through you
puffs you out like a peacock's chest
Showing your colours, attracting a
mate
Not a Greek mythology. Or a whisper in
the girls bathroom
you take up space
Fill up your surroundings
Make pleasure not pain
Why write a sex poem?
Feeling inspired? Getting sensual with words is an alternative way to access your sexuality without getting physical, and is just as sexy. What can you get out of writing sensual poetry?
- Use it as a form of journaling, to connect with your body and see how it changes each time you take pen to paper.
- Get poetic to build arousal. Perhaps an erotic exploration with yourself? Or, take sexting to a whole new, lyrical level. An erotic rhyming game could light up your partner’s imagination.
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Reflect on solo-sex. If you’ve just experienced an orgasm that leaves you breathless, putting it into words may allow the feelings to last longer. In fact, Naomi Wolf, author of Vagina: A New Biography suggests that orgasms and creativity are highly connected. Not just post, but during too...
‘What was transformative for them was something subjective about the quality of the orgasm that merged the physical realm with the realm of emotions or perception: the intensity that it created, and in turn the confidence and creativity.’ - Manifest pleasure-positivity. Poet Michaela Angemeer believes in the power of taking stock of desire and pleasure through sensual poetry. Noting down a verse or two could help with masturbation, we mean, manifestation. Who are we kidding? We mean both.
How to write sensual poetry.
How we experience sexual pleasure is personal to each of us, and so is poetry. Nevertheless, tips and techniques are always welcome when it comes to discovering ourselves. So, we asked the real poets for their poetry writing advice...
Marya: Be messy, candid, and unafraid with first drafts. Get the words out! Then go deep, deeper, and deeper still. Withhold judgment, but question everything.
Charlie: Throw out the old school rule book and be authentically you!
Charlotte: I think it’s knowing that poetry is anything you want it to be. It doesn’t have to rhyme, have a structure or even make sense to everyone. I like to read mine out loud and look for a rhythm, I think because I’ve always played instruments, I love finding a musicality to it.
Michaela: Don’t judge your writing! In my opinion, there is no such thing as a bad poem. You can write for pleasure’s sake and for the sake of connecting with your emotions, and that in itself makes a poem worthwhile. You don’t need the perfect metaphor or rhyme, you just need to feel.
Chloe: Leave shame at the door! I was always worried about my family or friends reading my sensual poetry, but that infers an element of shame - which isn’t truly, and shouldn’t be, there. Reminding myself my instincts are natural and exploring them in my words will only deepen them, has been liberating.
A poetry sexercise.
To kickstart a sensual play with words, and inspire you to explore new types of sensations, we asked the Instapoets to share the three words best describe their thoughts on clit sucker The Poet, a vibe designed as an ode to sensuality for vulva owners. Why not try doing the same poetry exercise to start playing with words?
Marya: Lyrical, giving, tonic.
Charlie: Addictive, innovative, effective.
Charlotte: Smooth, flexible, OHYESPLS.
Michaela: Connection, excitement, pleasure.
Chloe: Stimulating, natural and sensitive.
Have a sex poem you want to share? Submit your sensual poetry to be in with the chance of it being published on @SmileMakersCollection to inspire other women and vulva owners to get sensual! Or, take time to write sensual poetry with your body and learn how to use The Poet suction toy.
References :
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/nov/01/the-sole-function-of-the-clitoris-is-female-orgasm-is-that-why-its-ignored-by-medical-science
https://www.thecut.com/2012/09/onstage-orgasm-and-other-climactic-tales.html
