In Consideration of Pompeii

Summary

Since the age of 17/18, I've been haunted by the catastrophe of Pompeii – beginning with photographs (sold as pornography in high school) of the mummified lovers caught in coitus and preserved by the volcanic ash, revivified by many ghostly photographic books, but especially illuminated by Donald Sutherland's accounts and images from first hand experience of the ruins. Finally my homage in three parts: "The Flowers of Pompeii," "Ashen Snow," and "Angelus." (Note: the first section is actually entitled "The Sexual Partners of Pompeii.")