Elizabeth Logan
The person you like is the prettiest, smartest, bestest person ever. No, “I really liked that nude you sent.” It’s gotta be, “That was the most gorgeous picture ever taken of the most gorgeous human being on Earth, and if you ever take another one it will make God weep with happiness.” Or whatever.
Embrace your sweet emotions, like John Cage to Merce Cunningham
Choreographer Merce Cunningham and revolutionary composer John Cage met first as teacher and student, respectively, at the Cornish School in the 1930s. Though Cage went on to take a wife, the artist Xenia Cage, when the two men met again in Chicago, they couldn’t deny their mutual infatuation and remained together for nearly fifty years, until Cage’s death in 1992. Their correspondence is mostly about art, but one passage stands out as utterly romantic.
Maybe you’re not the type to express a “gravity elastic feeling” in a letter for a lover, but you can say you’re walking on a cloud or getting butterflies in your stomach. Think of a romantic love letter as sing-song-y. Lights are brighter. Colours more vivid! Evoke an emotion!
Quell misunderstandings, like Kaifi Azmi to Shaukat Kaifi
Indian theatre and film actor Shaukat Kaifi, who hailed from a well-known Hyderabadi family, moved to a single-room home with Urdu poet and film lyricist Kaifi Azmi to honour the love they shared. They remained married for over half a century, building a life together that was steeped in poetry, progressive politics and parenthood (they were parents to Baba and Shabana Azmi). Below is an excerpt from Shaukat’s memoir, Kaifi & I, where she recounts the time her husband—upset at not having her from her in 20 days during their courtship—wrote to her in his blood.