Currently listening to:Forever 27 by The Jane Doze
Status:exhausted



Gardens shoot early this month

Hi guys,

A plug for my inter continental friend and poet, Albert Abonado, who recently set up the online literary journal The Bakery. They feature a new poem everyday and are always open to submissions- so do check it out if you’re the poetry type! And if you’re not, all i can do is offer up the words of someone else in a convincing attempt to convert:

Leverage

Before the burglar raped my grandmother,
he pushed her down a flight of stairs.

Her ankle turned, her hip unhinged.
There was no getting up. No hope for flight.

She told me, when he was on top of her,
she stared up at the clock from the kitchen floor,

watched each minute crawl by like a half-smashed bug.
Imagined the school bus emptying her sons
into the yard.

The sandwiches she had no time to make.
When the man pulled his pants back up,

she noticed the tattoo on his forearm.
“Mother” framed in a heart. Leverage.

My sons will be home soon,
she explained.
How many?
Five.

What she told me next I could never understand
(not until I’d lived long enough in this temporary body,

not until I had five children of my own)
how, when the man held out his hand, she took it.

How neither of them spoke as she leaned all of her weight
onto her left foot, the two of them standing

in the kitchen, spreading butter onto bread.

/

By Rachel Mckibbens, who wrote one of my favorite poems, Your Airplanes. Because i am a creepy stalker i also added her on Facebook and jumped around the room when she accepted my friend request. Street cred +10, y’all.

Digressing as i so often do,

For some reason, every time i see the prefix/suffix ‘from japan’ i assume it’s going to be the most amazing thing ever. I don’t know if this is considered blind sheep syndrome, or if it’s a little strange given the historical antagonism between our countries, but I honestly adore japanese food. (Except wasabi, that nasty green stuff triggers images linked to the words snorting and nose for me) I mean, these people came up with salmon sashimi. Come on.

Also, japanese ramen, ramen eggs, sushi and black sesame ice cream? You’d be hard pressed to find a cuisine which gives japan a run for its money. Consequently, whenever i see the words Japan on a food product i tend to buy it up excitedly expecting a tastebud epiphany.

Which was why i was entirely too confused upon trying the cheesecake stick from a 7-11 near my office. It promised a delicate, light taste sure to delight your tastebuds. In reality, the sticks didnt taste like anything except dense foam. Needless to say, the tastebuds were not delighted and what i am trying to say is i need to stop taking things at face value.

x
♥jem