Chronicles of a PwP
I saw my own mother, captive
gorilla in the humid luminescence
of the pit at the zoo.
Some sort of fight was going on.
she was cowering under a chlorinated
waterfall, wrists to her ears, red-eyed.
Punks among us on the public concourse
taunted my father. He rampaged
round the jungle of house plants,
Prehensile feet slipping on patio slabs,
slamming into the steel door.
Richard Haly, my drinking, cooking and poetry buddy from the years in Berkeley recently sent copy of three of the extravagant menus he and I composed, executed and then consumed, once upon a time. This kind of thing will never be seen again.
WINTER RITE (Christmas 1981)
1979 Chateau Grillet
*
Duck Liver Mousse
1973 Lassalle
Cuvée Angeline / Blanc de Blancs
*
Double Consommé of Perch Truffled at Table
1979 Meursault “Perrières”
*
Quail with Oyster Forcemeat
Cèpes and Wild Rice
1972 Volnay “Taillepieds”
*
Leg of Lamb en Chevreuil
New Potatoes with Lemon and Mint
1972 Chateauneuf-du-Pape “Vieux Télégraphe”
*
Blancmange
1950 Chateau Gillette
LE SACRE DU PRINTEMPS (Easter 1982)
Champagne Brut Intégral
*
Saffron Broth with Capers
1979 Chateau Simone
*
Tea-poached Trout with Lavender Velouté
1979 Hermitage Blanc Chave
*
The Idea of a Verveine Ice
*
L’aura Amara
Roast Rabbit with Aromaticks
Wild Rice, Pistachioes, White Grapes
1978 Côte-Rôtie Champet
*
Watercress and Pine Nut Salad
*
Pasta and Kulich
1971 Gewurtztraminer Eiswein
AUTUMNAL POTLATCH (Thanksgiving 1982)
50 Olympia Oysters on Copper
Champagne Lassalle
*
Chestnut Soup with Beads and Trinkets
1975 Pouilly Fuissé
*
Poule d’Inde en Forme d’Enfant
(Turkey stuffed under the skin with morel farce, reformed
and displayed with the head of a Mexican baby Jeebus)
Yams, Wild Rice, Quail Eggs
1971 Vosne-Romanée
*
Persimmon and Apple Salad with Watercress
(served on birch bark with pine)
*
Hazelnut Cream
1921 Vouvray
*
Marc de Champagne Pommery
Indian Tobacco