Wanderer moon
smiling a
faintly ironical smile
at this
brilliant, dew-moistened
summer morning,—
a detached
sleepily indifferent
smile, a
wanderer’s smile,—
if I should
buy a shirt
your color and
put on a necktie
sky-blue
where would they carry me?
***
photograph: “Le velo du Printemps” by Robert Doisneau, 1948.
I’m not a baker. How I wish I were a baker! But baking is science and all-white ingredients, and I get so bored! And I don’t have cake pans! Or an electric mixer! Or patience.
And now it will come as no surprise to you when I say that Misha made the above cookies. Misha’s the baker of the house.
garlic scapes are awesome
roses smell awesome
tampons are awesome
women that use diva cups are awesome
old ladies who dye their white hair purple are awesome
men with babies strapped to their fronts are awesome (so is anyone with a baby strapped to their body)
bare feet are awesome
mixed recycling is awesome
happy hour prices are awesome
bicycling feels awesome
tie dye is awesome
“Made in the USA” is awesome
having a sister is awesome
homemade hot sauce tastes awesome
grilling is awesome
finishing projects is awesome
making pancakes for yourself is awesome (so is making pancakes with anyone)
driving a tractor is awesome
getting high on coffee is awesome
artichokes are awesome
handshakes are awesome
wordplay is awesome
DJ names are awesome
blueberry season is awesome
reading is totally awesome
i think rollerblading looks awesome but i only did it once so i don’t know for sure
being taken out to lunch is awesome
feeding people is awesome
riding shotgun is awesome
James Brown will always be awesome
writing poems is for sure awesome
giving poems to people is awesome
whiskey is awesome
ginger beer is awesome
old friends are the most awesome of awesome
homemade muffins are awesome
thrift stores are awesome especially the sunglasses section
records are awesome
the word “platypus” is awesome and so is “spritz”
hip hop lyrics can be really awesome
bartering is awesome
letters in the mail are undeniably awesome
bacon is awesome why didn’t anyone make me eat it earlier it so so goddamn awesome
summer coming on is awesome
Misha is number 1 awesome
treasures are awesome (like bird bones or gemstones)
wind turbines are awesome
root beer floats are awesome
notebooks are awesome especially new notebooks
woodcuts are awesome
worms are awesome
herbs are awesome
friendship bracelets are awesome
monks are awesome and so are nuns
hats are of course awesome but we already knew that
getting an mfa is awesome and i’m almost done doing it!!!! awesome over & out.
A child was made to stand alone
on the outskirts of the market
stall, his father scolding him
into stillness. I asked him
if he’d like a strawberry;
I brought him the biggest one
I could find. “Oh thank you,”
he said. “Strawberries are my
favorite food.” “What other foods
are your favorites?” I asked
jauntily; I love to talk favorites
with children. He shook his head.
“No other foods, “ he said.
“Strawberries are my only
favorite.” I nodded. He stood
reddening his face with strawberry
with me crouched to his level.
Soon his mother took his hand
to exit. “Thank you so much
for the strawberry,” he said.
I too have only one favorite.
(illustration via “color my life with the chaos of trouble“)
The car is totaled. All bodies are okay (or almost—Ellie has a sprained ankle) but minds less so. We need a new car fast, a truck in fact. When I’m in our house I feel normal, but otherwise, not so much. I feel new again to San Diego; there’s so much hideous paperwork to deal with, so much money. I haven’t left Misha’s side since the accident. We’re in hibernation mode. We’re waiting out the days.
“Summer Interior” by Edward Hopper
as it turns out, i love valentine’s day. misha & i give each other little presents a lot (little things, just poems or a small round rock), but today we give each other a little present on the same day, and i like that. it feels nice to know that loving is emphasized today, even if it’s all hallmark-ized and hollywood-ized–still, people are remembering to act in the name of love today. i believe in that. i love so many people, my mom & dad & sister, & my grandpa with his broken shoulder & the rest of my family, & my friends in the east & some people out west & various chickens & cats around america. loving people is what i like to do. valentine’s day has gotten dumbed down a little–bad chocolates are dumb & so are teddy bears with hearts in their bellies, but a loaf of bread with a heart in it is not dumb it all. in fact, it is very savory & beautiful. & it slices like heaven.
(bread & photography by misha j.)
happy day to everyone i love. happy happy day.
xoxo
looks like paddling
in a yellow canoe
on a sea of margarine
this year, I’ll call them
The Someday Brunch Sonnets(poems of 14 lines
occurring some days
& written in New York
during the last days of 2011
& the first days of 2012)
On the Hudson line, the Hudson’s misty white
and Harlem’s moistened bricks are held in color
by the rain. Years ago, I watched an airplane puff
a message to a lover from a lover but missed the name
when the train went underground. Usually I’m anxious
for the dark of tunnel, a sign that city life is close, all
the art and outfits waiting. This year it’s Christmas
and de Kooning, who painted roads and months on canvases
the size of my apartment. I won’t tell you that I saw
the Merritt in his painting called the Merritt Parkway,
but the expression of the tiny patch of olive green
that beamed itself in angles from a corner was enough
to tell me that he lived here once and thought himself
a minor sight in comparison to all the trees.
panache, perhaps 