forbidden aesthetics are things that may not be conventional or acceptable as 'aesthetics' but that I find to be conceptually interesting or inspiring. examples and descriptions will be added as I realize them.

• war -- the tragedy of young life being thrust into terrible circumstances. cold. endurance. mourning.
• curbstomping -- shattered teeth on the asphalt. irreversible damage. wrath. red and grey.
• cocaine -- burning gums, cold paint-thinner drip. luxury and dark rooms and low light. lust and excitement and desperation.
• guns as foreplay -- phallic symbol. cold, metal, deadly. horrible tension and intimacy. what if they pull the trigger?
• urban occultism -- worshipping the old gods with violence and spraypaint.
• illness -- black vomit, endless fever. cold sweats, mysterious causes. sallow, paper skin and a mouth that tastes like copper.
• gas station bathrooms -- prophecy and tragedy carved into the cracked paint. fervent exchanges of flesh and blood between stalls. used up, sticky, filth.
• vigilantism -- sacrificing everything. undeserved hatred. lives lost, never recovered. agony. wrath. repressing guilt. valuing justice above humanity.
• balaclavas -- the threat of anonymity. crime. intrustion. black, violent force. faceless assailant in the dark counting out the bills from your stolen wallet.
• gutters n sewer grates -- flooded with stagnant water. eyes in the dark. scaly horrors in the black depths. mystery, fear, being trapped.
• spit -- subhuman. punishment. foul, putrid, slick. sense of compliance or obedience or hate or all three.
• boots -- black tread. skin rubbed raw. thick purple bruises where steel-toe meets the body.
• grills -- metal teeth. unnatural. show of wealth. gold and silver, sharpened to a point. jewels and status. king mouth.
• waterboarding -- tell me everything. confession. drowning. weight of your sins, weight of the water. intimate brutality.