at 666 Manning. We were all drunk
& talking about Vermeer & his goddamn loaf of bread.
Oliveto has buttermilk bread but I worked hard today
& I’m tired, so I pass it up for something more
substantial – rich sunflower,
flour-dusted crusty Italian sourdough,
Italian
challah
in great white twists like Rachael’s
dimples,
sunflower-nudged bagels thick with sesame seeds,
flat Roman
paddas
& the great sticks of crusty
Calabrese
baguette
which is almost a Pulcinello.
All of these breads have that subtle touch
of almost nutty olive oil. The breads
light up the store. I can hardly make up my mind,
they’re all so good. A faint purple white glow
like the inside of certain flowers after the rain.
The air in this store is cool & sweet. I take 2 loaves
of multi-grain, 1
challah
, 1 crusty
baguette
& a number of cookies made with ground almonds.
What Aboud said in the restaurant was that
Dali’s loaf of bread is more real than Vermeer’s;
& I,
I said, How would Marquez describe a man
sitting with his back against a wall
eating a loaf of bread with a pocket-knife
& a piece of Parma cheese?
There is a touch of flour on one of the bills
as she gives me my change. Outside I rest the bread
loosely on one arm. Hector looks up at the sky
& sees a huge circle
of infinitely pure blue sky through the belfry aperture
of St. Paul’s rainwashed granite across the street.
The philosopher who compared love to bread probably
didn’t know very much about crops or weather. Bread is
bread; blue sky is blue sky; love is – in the eyes
of whatever person sinks their teeth into the other
side of this crusty
challah
& has enough restraint
to save me the remaining half. These entities all
complement each other, sure; but so would wet black olives,
tomatoes, morning doves, & Basque children running
through a field of wheat waving a burning fox
above their heads, and crying out Death To Franco.
DAVID BOWIE’S IMAGE
My friend Jean said she couldn’t stand
David Bowie,
it didn’t have anything to do with his voice,
or the songs he sang,
[I thought “China Girl” might have
upset her, because she’s a literary feminist,
but she said no, she liked “China Girl”],
it was his
appearance, she said, especially the face.
We’ve just
finished, I think, coming through a period where men
have been all-out enthusiastic about beautiful women,
even if they do have careers, like Debra Winger,
or jobs,
like Barbara McDougall; but women,
especially if they’re career-conscious, tend to dislike
good-looking men
especially if they’re successful.
I don’t know if gay guys like Bowie
but a lot of regular guys do,
especially if they listen
to a lot of music in the first place, &
are not heavy
metal fans, or if they’re guys who have walked out
of their MA courses.
Guys who have completed their MA
& are contemplating a doctoral thesis
generally regard
any form of pop except for the Beatles
that name alone would drive me crazy/songs that come
in a breakfast food box,
as being too superficial
because the songs are wildly unlike a textbook.
So what is David Bowie’s image?
& talking about Vermeer & his goddamn loaf of bread.
Oliveto has buttermilk bread but I worked hard today
& I’m tired, so I pass it up for something more
substantial – rich sunflower,
flour-dusted crusty Italian sourdough,
Italian
challah
in great white twists like Rachael’s
dimples,
sunflower-nudged bagels thick with sesame seeds,
flat Roman
paddas
& the great sticks of crusty
Calabrese
baguette
which is almost a Pulcinello.
All of these breads have that subtle touch
of almost nutty olive oil. The breads
light up the store. I can hardly make up my mind,
they’re all so good. A faint purple white glow
like the inside of certain flowers after the rain.
The air in this store is cool & sweet. I take 2 loaves
of multi-grain, 1
challah
, 1 crusty
baguette
& a number of cookies made with ground almonds.
What Aboud said in the restaurant was that
Dali’s loaf of bread is more real than Vermeer’s;
& I,
I said, How would Marquez describe a man
sitting with his back against a wall
eating a loaf of bread with a pocket-knife
& a piece of Parma cheese?
There is a touch of flour on one of the bills
as she gives me my change. Outside I rest the bread
loosely on one arm. Hector looks up at the sky
& sees a huge circle
of infinitely pure blue sky through the belfry aperture
of St. Paul’s rainwashed granite across the street.
The philosopher who compared love to bread probably
didn’t know very much about crops or weather. Bread is
bread; blue sky is blue sky; love is – in the eyes
of whatever person sinks their teeth into the other
side of this crusty
challah
& has enough restraint
to save me the remaining half. These entities all
complement each other, sure; but so would wet black olives,
tomatoes, morning doves, & Basque children running
through a field of wheat waving a burning fox
above their heads, and crying out Death To Franco.
DAVID BOWIE’S IMAGE
My friend Jean said she couldn’t stand
David Bowie,
it didn’t have anything to do with his voice,
or the songs he sang,
[I thought “China Girl” might have
upset her, because she’s a literary feminist,
but she said no, she liked “China Girl”],
it was his
appearance, she said, especially the face.
We’ve just
finished, I think, coming through a period where men
have been all-out enthusiastic about beautiful women,
even if they do have careers, like Debra Winger,
or jobs,
like Barbara McDougall; but women,
especially if they’re career-conscious, tend to dislike
good-looking men
especially if they’re successful.
I don’t know if gay guys like Bowie
but a lot of regular guys do,
especially if they listen
to a lot of music in the first place, &
are not heavy
metal fans, or if they’re guys who have walked out
of their MA courses.
Guys who have completed their MA
& are contemplating a doctoral thesis
generally regard
any form of pop except for the Beatles
that name alone would drive me crazy/songs that come
in a breakfast food box,
as being too superficial
because the songs are wildly unlike a textbook.
So what is David Bowie’s image?
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