Archives: 2019

NYC, Friday

My friend Susan, my coworker, and I met for breakfast. We had planned to try out this new cafe, but when we got there, we found out that they couldn’t serve food because the chef had not shown up yet, so we went to a Pret A Manger and had mini frittatas that were wonderful. I had the spinach and ham. Susan headed back to her apartment and would meet us later. My coworker and I headed to The Met. Our next exhibit will be a a guns and swords exhibit, so we went to the arms and armor division and did some reconnaissance. By that I mean we checked out what they had on display and how they had it displayed to get some ideas for our exhibit. Susan came to meet us for lunch but when she got there the line to get in was down the block and it was raining. Somehow, unbeknownst to us as museum professionals, it was Museum Day. Combined with it being spring break for New York, and the crowds were definitely out. My coworker decided to stay at The Met and continue to look around. She was leaving soon to go back to Vermont. I’d planned to stay until Sunday. So, I left the museum and met Susan for lunch at Le Pain Quotidien. I had a Croque Monsieur, which I have not had since I was in France many years ago. It was quite delicious. We took the subway back to my hotel, and I decided to rest for the afternoon. My cold was beginning to worsen and I needed to slow down a bit. The hotel was quite nice. The mini bar was your usual overpriced fair, but it had one thing I’d never seen before in a mini bar: an intimacy kit. It contained two condoms, lube, lover’s mints, and a feather all for $24. For that price, it better be some top notch stuff. After I got some rest, I met Susan at Coppola’s for dinner. We had a simply wonderful Italian dinner, much better than the one the night before. The creme brûlée for dessert was to die for. We then walked back to my hotel. Susan made a wonderful guide for me since this was my first time in New York. I can’t thank her enough.

More about New York tomorrow.

Pic of the Day


Ran Out of Time

I wanted to tell everyone about my trip to New York, but a) I’m still a bit under the weather and b) it got late and I was running out of time. I’ll try to work on it tomorrow and get it up on Thursday.


Pic of the Day


The Wound Before the Tomb of Walt Whitman

The Wound Before the Tomb of Walt Whitman

Fernando Valverde
Translated by Carolyn Forché

You who saw the vast oceans
and the peaks of the mountains,
who communed with all the sailors of the world
and you who saw Christ eat the bread of his last supper among the
young
and the elders,
you who saw the executioner of Europe
with his ax soaked with blood,
You stepped on the scaffold
and the fields in which mothers cried to their dead children.

Tell me if it is still
possible to announce triumphant justice
and deliver the lessons of the new world.

I’m going to kiss your lips,
they are cold and taste like the word America.

About This Poem

“Great Again. How to recover the greatness. Adjectives are circumstantial, but the nouns are chests that keep safe the essence of things, their moral dimension. What is America? This is the big question. What is the America that we want? Does a unique America like the one Whitman imagined exist? What is the great America that the slogans refer to? Is it the America of Walt Whitman or Charles Whitman? Is it the America of the person who shot a rifle from the sixth floor of the Book Depository in Dallas or the America of the one who received the bullet?”
—Fernando Valverde

Fernando Valverde

Fernando Valverde is author of several poetry collections, including The Insistence of Harm (University Press of Florida, 2019) and Poesia (1997-2017) (Visor, 2017). His work has been translated into several languages, and he is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia. He lives in Charlottesville, North Carolina.

Carolyn Forche

Carolyn Forché is the author of What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance (Penguin Press, 2019). She is a University Professor at Georgetown University.


Pic of the Day


Cold

I have a terrible cold. I’ll write more later when I feel better.


Pic of the Day


To Be Happy

I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. (KJV) ( Ecclesiastes 3:12 ) 

Do you acknowledge your happiness?  Often times, we don’t recognize our happiness in the moment but instead look back years later saying it was the happiest time of our lives.  Take joy in your current happiness, even if it is circumstantial.  Let’s do a better job of realizing our happiness and not be a person who walks around happy and not even knowing it.  What makes you happy today? 


Pic of the Day