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Must-Read: 'Another Narcissus,' an Erotic Poem by Edward Albee (Exclusive)

Dimitris Yeros

Get a start on your summer reading list with Albee's poetry.

"None of the young men that I knew were willing to pose for this picture, and I was beginning to get frustrated when I met a Greek-Albanian boy, with a very beautiful face, tawny hair, and innocent look," says Dimitris Yeros, who shot these photos to accompany Edward Albee's poem (below). "Miraculously I had no trouble getting him to accept horned mollusks crawling over him, nor was he put off by their slime."

The first shoot was in February 1995, but Yeros revisits the subject in a new limited edition of photos with another model. "I tried to imitate the old shots but took some new ones, too -- in the spirit of the poem," he says.

Read Albee's poem, below:

ANOTHER NARCISSUS

I'm standing at the table, looking into the mirror, I am liking what I see. I am young; I am handsome; I am pure. I understand why people want me. I want me. My sex begins to harden.

I stand there for a long time. I think it is the moment of my perfection that I wish to record -- before change comes, before loss comes.

It is not until the ivy has circled my neck and the snails are nearly to my mouth that I notice -- so enthralled am I by this object I see in the mirror.

Eventually the ivy will strangle me, the snails will cover my eyes and make their way down my throat, but I think I will still be hard as I think about the wonder of me.

Excerpt from Another Narcissus by Edward Albee and Dimitris Yeros (Phyllo Editions)


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Edward Albee