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The Poetry of the Earth

rob — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 01:03:41 +0000

Did I mention I finished my cactus garden a few weeks ago? I don’t think I did.

I took this beat up, decrepit old wooden bucket that was on the side of our house.

And turned it into this.

…and now it’s completely thriving.

The poetry of the earth is never dead. ~John Keats

I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars. ~Walt Whitman

How Do I Love Thee?

rob — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:26:55 +0000

Poets Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning carried out one of the most famous romantic correspondences in literary history. They first introduced themselves by epistolary means, and fell in love even before they had met in person.

In 1845, they wrote 574 letters to each other over the course of twenty months.

They secretly got married in 1846. Right before the wedding, Robert mailed off to Elizabeth a letter that said:

“Words can never tell you, however, — form them, transform them anyway, — how perfectly dear you are to me – perfectly dear to my heart and soul. I look back, and in every one point, every word and gesture, every letter, every silence — you have been entirely perfect to me — I would not change one word, one look. I am all gratitude — and all pride (under the proper feeling which ascribes pride to the right source) all pride that my life has been so crowned by you.”

And she wrote probably one of the most famous romantic poems ever:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right.

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints — I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life! — and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

(info from The Writer’s Almanac)

Today I’m gardening– finally working on the cactus garden, and Ted and I are making a Valentine’s Dinner of martinis, steak, baked Fennel with Parmesan and Thyme, roasted potatoes, and chocolate souffle.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Progress

rob — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 18:10:06 +0000

We’re almost unpacked in our new house. We have pictures on a few of the walls and the boxes are down to the double digits (maybe even under 20?). Photos of the new place to come, I promise. I’m halfway through summer teaching and have gotten back into working on my book. I have a new once a week class starting this week at SD Writer’s Ink on memoir/personal essay writing. I’m lumbering through Cheever: A Life, though not as quickly as I’d like to because I have several other books on the night stand to get to, including:

Meyer Schapiro Abroad: Letters to Lillian and Travel Notebooks– wondrously illustrated and written letters from art historian Meyer Schapiro to his wife from the year 1926-1927. I’m captivated by the romance in the letters and his painstakingly accurate drawings of art and architecture.

Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence Between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell– Thirty years of letters between these two poets.

Beyond writing my book and reading, I really want to get out in the (new) yard and work on my plants! Right now we have a sort of Cactus Garden going out there in the front yard– mostly succulents– that look really beautiful, some are blooming. But I’m dying to turn a portion of the yard into a vegetable garden. I’ve sectioned a sizeable square and hope to put in some heirloom tomatoes, basil, peppers (we have a habanero pepper plant from last year that is growing a few lovely-spicy orange peppers), and other herbs and veggies.

Speaking of, here’s a gorgeous poem by Caroline Miller from The Writer’s Almanac for July 5 (my sister’s birthday! Happy Birthday, Andrea). I love this poem, but especially the last four lines.

A Warm Summer in San Francisco

by Caroline Miller

Although I watched and waited for it every day,
somehow I missed it, the moment when everything reached
the peak of ripeness. It wasn’t at the solstice; that was only
the time of the longest light. It was sometime after that, when
the plants had absorbed all that sun, had taken it into themselves
for food and swelled to the height of fullness. It was in July,
in a dizzy blaze of heat and fog, when on some nights
it was too hot to sleep, and the restaurants set half their tables
on the sidewalks; outside the city, down the coast,
the Milky Way floated overhead, and shooting stars
fell from the sky over the ocean. One day the garden
was almost overwhelmed with fruition:
My sweet peas struggled out of the raised bed onto the mulch
of laurel leaves and bark and pods, their brilliantly colored
sunbonnets of rose and stippled pink, magenta and deep purple
pouring out a perfume that was almost oriental. Black-eyed Susans
stared from the flower borders, the orange cherry tomatoes
were sweet as candy, the fruit fattened in its swaths of silk,
hummingbirds spiraled by in pairs, the bees gave up
and decided to live in the lavender. At the market,
surrounded by black plums and rosy plums and sugar prunes
and white-fleshed peaches and nectarines, perfumey melons
and mangos, purple figs in green plastic baskets,
clusters of tiny Champagne grapes and piles of red-black cherries
and apricots freckled and streaked with rose, I felt tears
come into my eyes, absurdly, because I knew
that summer had peaked and was already passing
away. I felt very close then to understanding
the mystery; it seemed to me that I almost knew
what it meant to be alive, as if my life had swelled
to some high moment of response, as if I could
reach out and touch the season, as if I were inside
its body, surrounded by sweet pulp and juice,
shimmering veins and ripened skin.

“A Warm Summer in San Francisco” by Carolyn Miller, from Light, Moving. © Sixteen Rivers Press, 2009. Reprinted with permission.

2008: The Year in Homemade Goods, Part 1

rob — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:21:05 +0000

This year, or at least the last six months, I’ve been a lot more crafty (craftier?). I’ve always been someone who likes to make things–pipe-cleaners and yarn were staples of my childhood. I think I got it from my mom, she was always making something:

latchhook rugs, afghans, puffy fabric picture frames, strawberry jam, clothes for us (I’m still traumatized by the boxy Hawaiian shirt she made me one year), Christmas ornaments made of walnut shells, sachets.

I was her assistant in most, if not all, of these crafts. (by the way–I have a short story titled “Party Planning” in the forthcoming anthology Fool For Love, from Cleis Press and edited by the lovely Timothy J. Lambert and RD Cochrane, which tells of a young boy and his craft-crazy, party-planning mother).

Anyway, so this year I was all crafty all the time.

It began with my garden, where I grew several kinds of tomatoes, a big batch of Basil, Cayenne Peppers, mint, and Habanero Peppers. In November I made Habanero Jelly– which is delicious. And jam-making is so easy! It took all day to do it but when I was done I had a dozen jars of spicy-sweet Habanero Jelly and three jars of Apple Butter (store bought apples!). Here‘s the recipe I used.

Here’s a funny quote about cooking from Alice B. Toklas:

What is sauce for the goose may be sauce for the gander but is not necessarily sauce for the chicken, the duck, the turkey or the guinea hen.
- Alice B. Toklas, The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook, 1954

**Is she REALLY talking about cooking here?

I’ve documented the JELLY MAKING process in photos (for bigger, and more pics, see my Flickr page):

note: Habaneros are HOT peppers. Wear goggles and gloves when chopping them and place them in a sealed plastic bag when done.

Make sure to keep all windows of the house open while boiling Habaneros!

just a dab’ll do ya! Habanero jelly on a bagel with cream cheese is pure–and hot!–heaven.

In Upcoming Posts:

Making Marshmallows

Making Soap

My Crafty Purchases This Year

Crafts for the Future

Well Gnome

rob — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:55:33 +0000

My Garden Gnome is quickly becoming an internet sensation on a par with Tia Tequila and that crazy “Leave Britney Alone!” kid.

I got an email from Now Public website (full of crowd powered news tidbits) asking if they could use my Gnome photos.

See them here. And leave a comment for Gnomey.

You Go Gnomey!

Mary Mary Quite Contrary…

rob — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 21:03:50 +0000

…check out how much my garden has grown!

I’ve got Cayenne Peppers ripening red. I’ve been researching (aka Googling) how to cook with Cayenne Peppers and came across some interesting ideas like this. But if anyone else has some good ideas for what to do with Fresh Grown Cayenne Peppers please let me know.

Here they are:

We’ve been eating the little teardrop yellow tomatoes– boy are they good.

My sister bought us a garden gnome.

We’ve also got Basil and Habanero peppers and Mint, but the Mint’s not doing so well.

Jack feels right at home among the vegetables.

Speaking of growth, our dear friends Sandi and Cheryl are getting married tonight in Corona, California and we’ll be there!

Sandi and I have been friends since High School. She was the shift leader at my very first job– at Weinerschnitzel– in the mid 80s.

(that’s me and a girl name Desiree–not Sandi–below in black and white–don’t you love the polyester visor?)

We’ve come a long way baby.

Sandi came out to NYC for mine and Ted’s wedding in Brooklyn in 2005 and we’ve been waiting for her and Cheryl to tie the knot.

Maid of honor is the wonderful Lolers, our Canadian friend. I’d like to think that it was us that brought Lolers and Sandi together– so they owe us big time! They met the weekend of our wedding (see the pic below of me and Lola) and have been inseparable (well except when they’re apart in Calif and Canada) ever since.

Can’t wait to see them and to celebrate their marriage! Their LEGAL marriage! Woo Hoo!

One tomato, two tomato, three tomato, four!

rob — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:46:00 +0000

It’s official. I now have a green thumb. Or at least a green pinky.

I have at least four tomatoes growing in my garden now!

I, who have never grown more than a cactus in my lifetime, have now brought vegetables to life.

I can’t wait to make a salad with my new tomatoes.

These are called Patio Tomatoes; probably because they grow on the patio, yuk yuk.

This one is my prize-winner. It was the first one that started growing and now it’s HUGE!

This one was the second one to start growing and now it looks like a teardrop.

Here is a veritable salad.

Nothing yet from the Cayenne Pepper plant or the Lemon Tree.

I wish I could also grow artichokes. We had baby arts for dinner last night. MMmm, MMmmm.