Even amongst my friends who have accepted long ago that I prefer being naked versus being clothed, there’s often a question regarding as to why. It’s not that I’m a nudist, at least not in the most understood sense. After an awkward experience of running without undergarments on, I have no interest in resort based physical activities. And while I appreciate the idea of being natural in nature, as far deep woods as I like to go and commune in nature, such a thing is best done with a thick layer of fabric and a healthy dose of DEET.

The question stands: Why do I prefer being naked versus clothed, as long as legality and company allows? What changed a once conservative and modest young man into the free-spirited person that I am now? It was a series of encounters with people whom I looked up to and thought the bee’s knees of. It was a few encounters abroad. It was a result of sexual encounters in which my tendency to teleport back into my clothing post-coitus was joked about. It was all of these, but rather than always tell the whole story, I opted to write a bit of poetry to answer questions and stimulate conversation.

“Naked”

Skin chafing at the restraints of prudent fashion.
Indoctrination pulls at the strings to my thoughts,
manipulating my desire to embrace the new and different.
Wanting, aching, fighting, I finally rebel!
An article at a time, I undress.

Prompted by my body’s whims, clothing to falls to the ground,
not caring where it comes to rest.
Opening myself to scrutiny, I step into the open so all can see and judge.
The judgment never comes.

So many not noticing, I experience an epiphany.
I was the one judging all along, allowing myself to be deceived.
Shedding more than just garments, my heart and mind open.
Clothing was the deception;
being naked the truth.

Illusions shedding as easily as the once restrictive garments, my pulse quickens.
Elements embrace me, rousing senses as never before.
My body is tickled by a wave of new stimuli, my mind is laid bare;
exposed to what could have been,
were it not for misconceptions.

Seeing with new eyes, I free my body for all and no one.
Both humbled and exalted, I learn.
I am capable of seeing and not judging, of experiencing before rejecting.
My heart and mind are open, ready to be filled.
The mind as exposed as the body.

Awakened, enlightened, unfettered; I am naked.