Charcuterie Vol. 14

A spattering of things, plus little crowns as bullet points

May has been a glorious month for me. Lots of going places and doing things—so much of that in fact, that I’m only in the past couple of days fully appreciating the sheer amount of things I’ve done this month, and the outrageous amount of fun I’ve had doing them. I’m a grateful, grateful girl! I did a lot of reading, writing, eating, dancing, laughing and more gambling than normal for sure, but that’s a story for another time perhaps. Here’s a spattering, just for you:

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Some Poems:

♕ “Return” by C.P. Cavafy, translated from the Greek by David Connolly

♕ “Coming Home at Twilight in Late Summer” by Jane Kenyon (via

Poetry Today

)

♕ “Still Life with Sky, Coffee, Tulips, Anna Karenina, and God” by Shannon Pratson (via The Sewanee Review)

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Some Reads:

♕ Okay one more poem. I’m sneaky like that!! This NYTimes close reading of “Having a Coke With You” by Frank O’Hara. What a set of lines! As the close reading announces right off the bat, “This is a love poem.” Catch me soon on a park bench in the sweaty summer sun reading more O’Hara, absorbing & observing.

♕ This quasi-obituary on Denis Johnson, published after his death in 2017. I stumbled upon this when I was writing last week’s post, which includes my review of Johnson’s Train Dreams—which was so good, to cut a long story short. I just thought this tribute it was nice and that’s all! Also, who know Denis Johnson was a poet? Probably a lot of people, but not me. Now I do know, so catch me soon on a park bench…you know the rest.

♕ & last but not least—“Why is Wellness So Fucking Annoying?” from

TPWSYL

spoke straight into my soul. Read if you feel overwhelmed by how many products and powders you’re apparently supposed to be buying and ingesting to fix yourself in one way or another. The author, whose name I can’t figure out, but who I’ve gathered is a private chef and nutritionist in Phoenix, AZ, makes a case for not spending money on things that come in pretty packages and promise to de-bloat you or replace all your vitamins (including the ones you’ve never heard of) whatever. As she says—“the earth provides” !!!!!!!! Instant subscribe.

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Tastes:

♕ In huge news, related to the earth’s ability to provide, I’ve become a smoothie girl, and I want to plug my spot because I love it there, and it doesn’t feel like a Smoothie King (no hate if that’s your vibe, but it ain’t mine). Run to Agavi, on East 7th. I get the Berry Me, and I get it even when I’m already late to work.

♕ Hummus is delicious??? For the longest time I thought hummus was kind of gross because all of my roommates in college would buy their own individual massive tubs of hummus, so we would have just an obscene amount of the stuff in our fridge, and to be totally honest (and I still kind of feel this way even though I love hummus now), the smell is not my favorite. After Passover there was a lot of leftover matzo in my office kitchen, and matzo with hummus is a delicious snack.

♕ I’ve also recently gotten really into pantry pasta, by which I mean pasta that’s made up without using a recipe, mostly involving pantry items or things that you just kind of always have around. I was in Charlottesville earlier this month and I made the most delicious pasta using bacon, garlic, a shallot, tomato paste, a little chicken stock, a little white wine, and chopped spinach. You already know just from that list that it was a masterpiece, but what you might not know (yet) is the extra pleasure (emotional and sensory) that can be derived from the act of spontaneous creation.

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Sounds:

♕ Currently obsessed with this song by Suki Waterhouse. It hits me just right, so I’ve been listening on repeat as one does, and it hasn’t gotten old yet.

♕ I had an actual spiritual experience in New Orleans last weekend with DJ Soul Sister. She’s the queen of rare groove, and I had to be physically removed from the dance floor when the friends I was with wanted to leave. I will be sharing more about my experience and love for DJ Soul Sister on June’s episode of Something We Read (the podcast I started with my sister, Kathryn). The next episode comes out on Tuesday! You can make it one of your sounds for June. Download, save, rate, review, etc. etc. etc.

♕ The pouring rain outside right now as I’m writing this. Accompanied by real thunder and hot summer lightning, real close together.

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Tips & Tricks:

♕ I did some actual writing by hand this month, and it really shook things up for me. I’m always acting like I’m going to be writing a lot by hand, and God knows I love nothing more than a paper treat, but historically speaking I don’t actually write much by hand except my journal journal (which will one day be burned or published, I haven’t decided yet) and to-do lists. Boring! All of the writing you read here happens on a laptop. But since most delightful establishments in New York don’t allow laptops after 6pm, if at all, I recently decided it would be best to put on my big girl pants about the whole thing. For me, that meant stealing an old-school composition notebook from my office and vibing out with it at Book Club Bar. 10/10. If you already normally write by hand, try doing something different (pen instead of pencil, outside instead of inside, write on a laptop (not that romantic in the opposite direction but whatever)). Interesting things might happen.

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Notes from The Joy Journal™:

♕ 5/1: lifted pick-up truck playing unidentified pop ballad SO loud on my way home from work

♕ 5/2: this specific flower

♕ 5/6: the sunset in the reflection of the windows outside my windows

♕ 5/12: goslings in the morning

♕ 5/23: the way my lover says you look really nice when he’s half asleep and I’m leaving for work

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