Friday, April 6, 2018

Suppose it were Friday cli: Compression for a cause






Gérard, anticipating release from
interrogation today in the general
amnesty expected of most Fridays,
has been pondering whether the new
American government might spontan-
eously detain him on suspicion of
knowing his nation's customs too
well. How shall he recognize, in
whether Friday has come at all?


















Carroll Shelby
Cobra
AC Motors, Ltd. and
  the Ford Motor Company
1962 - 1965









Thursday, April 5, 2018

On my way to Guéthary






   The open secret, that the diagnostic
   imaging platforms of modern medicine
   are as close as most of us are like-
   ly to come to an Atlantic crossing in
   First Class on the Normandie, was not
   lost on me in an inconceivably expen-
   sive ride in the radiology wing of a
   local hospital, only this week. What
   I missed by way of deck sports cer-
   tainly was recompensed by the pres-
   tige of my exposure to body-surfing
   loads of lethal energy, and all of
   it a tax-free benevolence of one or
   another of our sovereign insurance
   empires. Offered my little identify-
   ing wristband as a keepsake of this
   journey, I realized I had been only
   the baggage of an opulent carriage.


















Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Futures






The semillon grape is the foundation
for a wine, Sauternes, one would only
waste if approached in its first 20
years. Skillfully handled on the vine
to achieve a trace of noble rot, it is
harvested cluster by cluster, in sev-
eral passes. This trial by patience is
reflected in its palate in maturity,
in intonations of earth, season, fruit,
and a longevity of depth and radiance
on which it is absurd to cast a price.
Its pitiably small supply, therefore,
must be reserved en primeur if ever
it is to be savored, with one's only
warranty the reputation of the house.

















Barsac






Monday, April 2, 2018

Balthus shows the way






In his prophetic watercolor from 1958,
Study for the Siesta, Balthus went be-
yond predicting Florida's exemption 
from government's new call for oil on
the beaches, as a periwinkle on the E-
lectoral College map. He foretold the
solution for the Leader's Easter melt-
down over caravans of aliens, swelling
California's voting rolls: suspension
from the vote count altogether, until
that bloated bladder can be purged of
evil brown tones. How the heartland,
swollen proud, disses pale wisteria of
tiresome New England, and rises on the
slop of fossil fuel's tumescent show.
does, of his next fantasia on our race.



















Sunday, April 1, 2018

Rameau and coffee


  The extraordinary dialogue
  between a morning in Spring
  and the ruminations of Jean-
  Philippe Rameau at his key-
  board: which came first, we
  aren't the first to wonder.

  Coffee, on the other hand,
  is more challenging. It in-
  sinuates, it transforms at-
  tention. Fragonard's silent
  pet.
















Jean-Honoré Fragonard
The Music Lesson
ca 1768

Angela Hewitt
  soloist and essayist
Rameau: Keyboard Suites
1728
Hyperion Records Ltd, 2007©

Jean Puiforcat
Initiales
ca 1928
Cup and saucer