English followed by une version en français y una versión en español.

The back story: On 4 January 2026, the day after the United States government seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, The Guardian ran an article about “naked imperialism” (the US’s invasions of Latin American countries). Somehow, in bypassing that old news, I landed upon an article, from November 2025, about how “more than two in five sexually active under-18s in the UK have either been strangled or strangled someone during sex.”

On 6 January, Volker Türk, the spokesperson for the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, issued a statement saying, inter alia:

accountability for human rights violations cannot be achieved by unilateral military intervention in violation of international law. The people of Venezuela deserve accountability through a fair, victim-centred process.

Might the same be said for the strangled, and even for the willingly strangled? Insofar as it is a role of poets, or of some poets, to juxtapose phenomena that are but rarely juxtaposed . . . I have felt an obligation to, at a minimum, prepare the “notes” that appear below in English, French and Spanish.

Sources + Comments may be found at the end of the English text. The picture at right above is of Patrice Lumumba, the Prime Minister of the Congo (now Zaire), shortly before his assassination in January 1961 as a result of efforts by the US Eisenhower administration and Belgian authorities.

English

Notes for a sonnet about naked imperialism and strangling one’s sexual partners

I can see right away that there’s going to be a problem with this poem.

It seems that some large percentage of young men and women consent, tacitly or overtly, happily or unhappily, to being strangled during sex,

But I’m not sure that such a high percentage of people living in relatively impotent countries would consent to being invaded by the armed forces of more powerful countries,

Or even to having their leaders, however popular or unpopular, legitimate or illegitimate, kidnapped or assassinated by foreign powers.

Another problem is that I never take drugs (if you don’t include statins) and rarely drink even a glass of wine.

And my sense is that intoxication, of one kind or another, is essential if one is going to accept being strangled or invaded (or kidnapped or assassinated),

And I imagine that the stranglers and invaders are also often helped along by alcohol, drugs,

And other things that reduce their inhibitions to strangling, invading, kidnapping, etc.

I read an article in which a young Englishwoman’s boyfriend is said to have suddenly put his hands around her neck and started squeezing.

‘I thought,’ she says, ‘is this a sexy thing, or a murder-y thing?’

She was a bit ignorant of all the violent pornography now available,

And be this video of actors having sex or, say, emails salivating over all the money that was going to be made once the invaders and their friends got hold of some other country’s natural resources, or could force its citizens into working long hours under dangerous conditions for not-quite-subsistence wages.

These are just notes; the poem is to come later.

But I think that to do a good job writing it, I should first get naked, and, this January at least, it seems so cold outside.

Sources + Comments

• In A poet reads (Un poète lit, Un poeta lee) I discuss the idea that poets, or some poets, have the task of juxtaposing rarely juxtaposed phenomena.
• The Guardian article on ‘naked imperialism’.
• The Guardian article on strangulation sex.
• An article on ‘choking during sex’ published by Dazed, which article includes the comments atttributed to the Englishwoman in the poem. In the article she is identified as “Rebecca.”
• A serious qualitative interview study of American women students who had been choked and/or choked others during sex. I note that the women in this study apparently preferred the term “choking” to “strangulation,” “breath play” or “asphyxiation.” Among the many thought-provoking and/or disturbing comments recorded in the study, three that particularly impressed this me, squarely in the “gentle sex” camp:
  • From a 22-year-old heterosexual African-American woman: “Gentle sex, it’s like, I feel like he’s not as masculine. Like I’m just like, hmm. I don’t know. It’s just not as masculine. I don’t feel as excited.”
  • From a 19-year-old bisexual African-American woman: “Just like seeing that he’s like enjoying it makes me happy too. So it makes me feel better and yeah, I, I enjoy it.”
  • From a “straight” Asian-American woman, 20-years-old: “I tried one hand, but it didn’t, it didn’t work because my hands are too small. So I tried to put my other hand and he was like, no. . . . ‘I’m not a girl, you cannot do that.’”

In addition, the authors of the study describe four major categories of consent, or lack thereof: verbal consent, non-verbal consent, assumed consent, and non-consent. Nations and their citizens also consent and object in various ways to violent invasions. And I note that, at least when it comes to “rough sex”—or, say, the assassinations of Lumumba and of  Salvador Allende, then President of Chile—verbal consent seems scarce on the ground.

Is making love now a thing of the past? To say nothing of making love not war.

A child of the Sixties (and a former paisley-shirt wearer), I wonder if young people today are, in their bedrooms, preparing themselves for World War III or for the oncoming environmental devastation? Or is it simply that they are struggling—to include with their throats and fingers—to both, somehow, accept and deny the dramatic changes in the roles and relationships of women and men these past one hundred or more years?

Français

Notes pour un sonnet sur l’impérialisme nu et l’étranglement des partenaires sexuels

Je vois tout de suite qu’il va y avoir un problème avec ce poème.

Il semble qu’un pourcentage important de jeunes hommes et femmes consentent, tacitement ou ouvertement, volontiers ou à contrecœur, à être étranglés pendant les rapports sexuels.

Mais je ne suis pas sûr qu’un pourcentage aussi élevé de personnes vivant dans des pays pays relativement impuissants consentirait à être envahi par les forces armées de pays plus puissants,

Ou même à voir leurs dirigeants – qu’ils soient populaires ou impopulaires, légitimes ou illégitimes – kidnappés ou assassinés par des puissances étrangères.

Un autre problème est que je ne prends jamais de drogues (si l’on ne compte pas les statines) et que je bois rarement ne serait-ce qu’un verre de vin.

Et j’ai le sentiment que l’ivresse, sous une forme ou une autre, est essentielle pour accepter d’être étranglé ou envahi (ou kidnappé ou assassiné).

Et j’imagine que les étrangleurs et les envahisseurs sont souvent aidés par l’alcool, les drogues

Et d’autres substances qui réduisent leurs inhibitions à étrangler, envahir, kidnapper…

J’ai lu un article dans lequel le petit ami d’une jeune Anglaise aurait soudainement mis ses mains autour de son cou et commencé à serrer.

« Je me suis dit », elle dit dans l’article, « is this a sexy thing, or a murder-y thing? » (S’agit-il ici de devenir plus sexy ou de tuer ?)

Elle ignorait un peu la pornographie violente désormais disponible,

Que ce soit une vidéo d’acteurs ayant des relations sexuelles ou, disons, des e-mails salivant sur tout l’argent qui allait être gagné une fois que les envahisseurs et leurs amis auraient mis la main sur les ressources naturelles d’un autre pays, ou pourraient forcer ses citoyens à travailler de longues heures dans des conditions dangereuses pour un salaire pas tout à fait suffisant pour subsister.

Ce ne sont que des notes ; le poème viendra plus tard.

Mais je pense que pour bien l’écrire, je devrais d’abord me déshabiller, et, cet hiver, il fait si froid dehors.

Español

Notas para un soneto sobre el imperialismo desnudo y el estrangulamiento de los compañeros sexuales

Veo inmediatamente que va a haber un problema con este poema.

Parece que un porcentaje importante de hombres y mujeres jóvenes consienten, tácita u abiertamente, de buen grado o a regañadientes, que los estrangulen durante el sexo.

Pero no estoy seguro de que un porcentaje tan alto de personas que viven en países relativamente impotentes consentiría ser invadido por las fuerzas armadas de países más poderosos,

o incluso que sus líderes, sus líderes, por muy populares o impopulares, legítimos o ilegítimos que sean, sean secuestrados o asesinados por potencias extranjeras.

Otro problema es que nunca tomo drogas (si no contamos las estatinas) y rara vez bebo ni siquiera una copa de vino.

Y tengo la sensación de que la intoxicación, en una forma u otra, es esencial para aceptar ser estrangulado o invadido (o secuestrado o asesinado).

Y supongo que los estranguladores y los invasores suelen ayudarse del alcohol, las drogas

y otras sustancias que reducen sus inhibiciones para estrangular, invadir, secuestrar…

Leí un artículo en el que el novio de una joven inglesa, de repente, le agarró del cuello y empezó a estrangularla.

«Me dije», dice ella en el artículo, «¿se trata de algo sexy o algo homicida?»

Desconocía toda la pornografía violenta que hay ahora disponible,

y sea los vídeos de actores teniendo sexo o, por ejemplo, correos electrónicos salivando por todo el dinero que se ganaría una vez que los invasores y sus amigos se hicieran con los recursos naturales de otro país, o pudieran obligar a sus ciudadanos a trabajar largas jornadas en condiciones peligrosas por un salario que no alcanzaba para subsistir.

Son solo notas; el poema vendrá más tarde.

Pero creo que, para escribirlo bien, primero debería desnudarme, y, este invierno, hace mucho frío fuera.

— Poem(s) and artwork by William Eaton.