words that tempt

How is it said?
I want to embroider a few words or phrases on the reveal portion of the piece I'm sewing. And so I boarded the bus this morning thinking, how is it expressed -- desire? How can it be verbalized without sounding like a hooker on a Saturday night? Which words tempt? How can tempting words be chosen so that intent might not be seen as consciously corrupting?

Because the point in this case is to convey the desire that convinces us to do something we know is wrong. Not the whole puritanical cartoon, "the devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape" thing -- but the real daily desire, that infuses one with an emotion that overrides good sense, that combines itself with better emotions, better intentions to make a powerful cocktail of need and rationalization. That Desire.

At first I thought, what would get me? Then I thought, well, what would I say? How would I tempt someone? How have I? Nothing seems quite right, of course, on the bus at 8 in the morning. In the freezing cold. Not a sexy thing, that. And I realize that, of course, a large part of temptation involves the circumstances -- because temptation isn't a blunt instrument. It entices. It involves. It sneaks up on you, if it's to be really effective, because otherwise it might as well be a hooker on a Saturday night.

The circumstances in this case will be sensual -- the language will literally be couched in velvet and brocade. It will appear across two doors which are more like the pages of a book, or the petals of a flower. It's an invitation. It's a willingness. You have to want to open the book/reveal for the visual statement to be effective -- you'll have to touch it. And because it's an art object (if successful), the urge to touch the art itself has to override the need for permission. The textures and the nature of the form will be clues to the viewer, but the words have to help it along, have to put the viewer in the conducive frame of mind. Without being blatantly sexual, might I add. Because I'm not trying to be sensational here. It's a private experience, this thing. You have to want to do something questionable.

How do you say it? Seduction has to present itself a little at a time. Seduction has to be whatever you want it to be at the moment. And I don't have much space!

reveal