The Best American Poetry

More Martinis

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The first Martini I ever drank was strictly medicinal, for threatened seasickness, and in spite of a loyal enjoyment of them which may be increasing in direct ratio to my dwindling selectivity of palate, I must admit that I still find them a sure prop to my flagging spirits, my tired or queasy body, even my over-timid social self. I think I know how many to drink, and when, and where, as well as why; and if I have acted properly and heeded all my physical and mental reactions to them, I have been the winner in many an otherwise lost bout with everything from boredom to plain funk. A well-made Martini or Gibson, correctly chilled and nicely served, has been more often my true friend than any two-legged creature.

-- M. F. K. Fisher, "To the Gibson and Beyond" (The Atlantic, January 1949)

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Remember: the only difference between a Martini and a Gibson is that the former gets an olive or lemon twist, the latter a cocktail onion or two. To make a "dirty" Martini serve with an olive and add a little of the olive juice from the jar. Vodka Martinis are OK, but for the full effect I recommend mixing gin (Hendrick's or Plymouth or Tanqueray or Beefeater) with a tablespoon of dry vermouth (preferably French: Noilly Prat); shake with ice, and serve straight up in frozen Martini glasses. Keep the gin (or vodka) in the freezer.

-- DL

Meditations in an Emergency

One need never leave the confines of New York to get all the greenery one wishes--I can't even enjoy a blade of grass unless I know there's a subway handy, or a record store or some other sign that people do not totally regret life.

                       -- Frank O'Hara

View of Manhattan from the Smith/9th St. subway station (photo by Stacey Harwood)

On Masterpieces and Insects

George Balanchine, left, Igor Stravinsky, right. (Balanchine.org)

"If you set out deliberately to make a masterpiece, how will you ever get it finished?"
                                         -- George Balanchine

"God was satisfied on the days he created lovely flowers and trees and the birds of the heavens and was also just as satisfied on the day he created crawling insects and slimy reptiles."
                                          -- Igor Stravinsky

-- sdh

How Luscious Lies

1377

Forbidden Fruit a flavor has
That lawful Orchards mocks —
How luscious lies within the Pod
The Pea that Duty locks —

by Emily Dickinson

-- sdh

The Longest Pleasure

And is there not religion, and reform,

            Peace, war, the taxes, and what's call'd the "Nation"?

The struggle to be pilots in a storm?

            The landed and the monied speculation?

The joys of mutual hate to keep them warm,

            Instead of love, that mere hallucination?

Now hatred is by far the longest pleasure;
Men love in haste, but they detest at leisure.

      
                                                by Lord Byron
                                                Don Juan, Canto the Thirteenth

--sdh

National Vices

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The Germans are called brutal, the Spanish cruel, the Americans superficial, and so on; but we are perfide Albion, the island of hypocrites, the people who have built up an Empire with a Bible in one hand, a pistol in the other, and financial concessions in both pockets.
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– E. M. Forster

The Critic by Kenneth Tynan

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The critic knows the way but can't drive the car.

-- The critic Kenneth Tynan

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DL

Lear is the Real King of Camino Royal

from King Lear:

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Fool: Prithee, nuncle, keep a schoolmaster that can teach thy fool to lie.

Lear: An you lie, sirrah, we'll have you whipped.

Fool: I marvel what kin thou and thy daughters are. They'll have me whipped for speaking true; thou'lt have me whipped for lying; and sometimes I am whipped for holding my peace. I had rather be any kind o' thing than a fool; and yet, I would not be thee, nuncle.

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-- DL

How Timely:

I want a hero: an uncommon want,

When every year and month sends forth a new one,

Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant,

The age discovers he is not the true one;

Of such as these I should not care to vaunt,

I'll therefore take our ancient friend Don Juan  --

We all have seen him, in the pantomime,

Sent to the devil somewhat ere his time.

                                            - - Don Juan, Canto the First

                                                by Lord Byron

-- sdh

Gastronomical Perfection

   I feel now that gastronomical perfection can be reached in these combinations: one person dining alone, usually upon a couch or a hill side; two people, of no matter what sex or age, dining in a good restaurant; six people, of no matter what sex or age, dining in a good home.
   Three or four people sometimes attain perfection either in public or in private, but they must be very congenial, else the conversation, both spoken and unsaid, which is so essential a counterpoint to the meal's harmony, will turn dull and forced. Usually six people act as whets, or goads, in this byplay and make the whole more casual, if, perhaps, less significant.
   The six should be capable of decent social behavior: that is, no two of them should be so much in love as to bore the others, nor at the opposite extreme should they be carrying on any sexual or professional feud which could put poison on the plates all must eat from. A good combination would be one married couple, for warm composure; one less firmly established, to add a note of investigation to the talk; and two strangers of either sex, upon whom the better acquainted diners could sharpen their questioning wits.
-- M.F.K Fisher
   An Alphabet of Gourmets

Quiz:  Name the poem written by W. H. Auden in response to this passage.

                                                                                                             --- sdh