* For A. B. Cheftziba, in memoriam, for Khlébs, for Augusto de Campos
tout
le
soirs
du
monde
and then you would come over and sit at my table.
and I would turn the kitchen light down
so the glittering quasar screensaver
(that you liked so much)
next room would reflect on the cupboard doors.
and there would be no words
unspoken or unspeakable, but
long stretches of a formidable silence
with absolutely no sounds of any kind
except for the profound, rumbling joy
you made happen
inside my chest.
Ne me quittes pas.
_*_*_
Faça-se, então: à farsa, à força,
Amaldiçoa.
Que phode, & que logo;
Já,
Caçoa:
Ride, sua ridente!
Derride, com cada dente!
Rishonhai-a, remo-eu, aos risos, na rua,
Sua rimente risandaia!
Derride, e sorri, e se-mente.
_________________
Tis a gift to be simple
Tis a gift to be free,
Tis a gift to come down
Where we ought to be.
And when we find ourselves
In a place just right,
It will be in the valley
Of love and delight.
Old Shaker Hymn
_________________
* Uma obra epistolar?
Para breve: Vantagens e desvantagens da correspondência convencional
numa obra epistolar de mão única: JP Catavento (modestamente) of
Seattle and AB Cheftzba of Berlin.
E o que diabos isso tem a ver com o corcunda de Notre Dame? Bem, só
de saída: primeiro, eu não tenho a corcunda; segundo, o alfaiate
dele é bem melhor.
_________________
And then, reality shock: all of a sudden, my chest was tight, my
mouth felt bitter, and I walked back to the dark little hole I call
home, meio sussurando, cantarolando, choramingando uma mísera linha.
_________________
Descobri também que o Vinhoto é irmão do Minhoto (você já sabia
disso também?). O que vale dizer, claro, que o Vinho nasceu no
Minho.
_________________
Saffron
Saffron has the distinction of being oldest and the most expensive
spice in the world – fortunately, you only need a few threads to bring
the healthy flavor and distinctive yellow color to dishes. Saffron is
believed to have been harvested as early as 1700 BC! Made from the
dried stigma of a plant in the crocus family, true saffron costs so
much because of the intensive labor required to harvest it. It takes
about one acre of land and over 75,000 flowers to harvest one pound of
saffron – and what’s worse, the flowers must be picked during a
one-week window where the flowers bloom. Saffron threads range in
color from a deep yellow to a bright rust-red, with the redder the
threads, the more intense the flavor. Saffron is imported from Spain
and costs over $1,100 a pound if you really felt the need to buy that
much. One gram of saffron is much more economical, costing about
$7-15, and has several hundred threads in a package. Try to avoid
supermarket saffron if you can because it is usually marked up several
times over. For example, I saw a jar of saffron selling for $15 that
only had about 20 or 30 threads in the little vial inside the
jar. Saffron is perfect for chicken soups, rice dishes, and even
saffron breads.
Matthew Balmer
aka InspectorPraline
