Nestled in among banks of illustrations in this week’s “cartoon issue” of The New Yorker is a David Sedaris “Reflection” that is one of the most perfect short pieces of writing I’ve read all year.
It’s a meditation on monogamy and the various challenges it brings to the gay relationship.
“I’d met my first boyfriend at a place called the Man Hole,” Sedaris writes. “Not the sort of place that suggests fidelity. It was like meeting someone at Fisticuffs and then complaining when he turned out to be violent.”
But the four page story is mostly about devotion and is centered around the hilarious, if sickeningly visual ordeal of Sedaris’ partner Hugh having to lance a boil that had developed on his back. It’s buried in the middle of the issue and it’s easy to miss. How refreshing though, to have this piece of writing that celebrates gay domestic love at its most real.
As noted in comments, story online. (Thanks, Mark)