Epiphanies infuse Modern Nature, Derek Jarman’s diaries from 1989 to 1990, with their ebullient evocations of gardening. For Jarman, planting flowers at his wind- and sea-blasted cottage and then reciting their names (endlessly, passionately) becomes sex, becomes the fullness he’s on his way to leaving as he grows sicker from AIDS.

The pace of Jarman’s life as chronicled in Modern Nature is unpredictable. In more energetic moments, Jarman cruises the public parks, makes a film without a script (The Last of England, 1987), and attempts to get Matt Dillon’s heartbeat for a project. He plants saxifrage and sea kale. He starts taking AZT. When Jarman discovered he was seropositive, he set himself a goal: to disclose his status and survive Margaret Thatcher. These he has done with aplomb.

Courageous stuff

Modern Nature is a wonderful essay in decorative evasion. . . . The twenty months Jarman covers are filled with artful flashbacks to his childhood, earlier film career, and homosexual history. Few frontline details about the life, work, and daily thoughts of the director of Sebastiane, Caravaggio, and The Garden have been left out.

Jarman writes sensitive, observant prose.

This is a must-read for anyone, but especially for those of us in the LGBTQA community, as it is a part of our collected history, and it is a testament to the strength and vitality of this community as well.