Every glance a saving

   

Peter Hujar, photography

untitled

1981

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

his perch of isometric exposure,

whether Friday has come at all?

Carroll Shelby

Cobra

AC Motors, Ltd. and

  the Ford Motor Company

1962 - 1965

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.

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.

Château Climens

Barsac

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.

We study the signs, just as the Leader

does, of his next fantasia on our race.

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