Moved By A Mountain

I devoured Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain at the chiropractor's yesterday evening, while lying on my tummy, my face squashed into the gap in the massage bed and my hands curled around the bed to hold the precious book literally beneath my nose. As I read, jolts of electricity surged through me and I couldn't tell if they were from the prose or from the maze of electrolodes stuck on my back. I finished the story even before my session had ended and sighed aloud in gratification.

My therapist turned around. "What are you reading."

I flashed the book at her. "Is it good?" she asked.

I couldn't even begin to tell her just how good it was. The part that really got me was when Ennis enters Jack's room and spots Jack's blue jacket with his own 'missing' plaid shirt carefully tucked inside and brings it to his nose to inhale the scent of memories. I had to stop reading for a while to pull myself together. Raw, painful and honest. I loved it. And I think everyone, whether gay or straight, will love it too because it addresses the one thing that brings princes and paupers to their knees - the agony of love lost.

In a recent interview, Proulx said, "Straight men are seeing it, and they're not having any problem with it. The only people who would have problems with it are people who are very insecure about themselves and their own sexuality and who would be putting up a defense, and that's usually young men who haven't figured things out yet. Jack and Ennis would probably have trouble with this movie."

I have read countless comments on the movie but the most moving was from a visitor to the Brokeback Mountain website - I haven't seen it yet, but when I do, I know it will be a day for my soul.