Alabama’s Baseball Disgrace
An Alabama baseball coach apparently sold out his team. In sports, that’s about as bad as it gets.
Author: Ben Sears
POETS Day! Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I’m no connoisseur, but I read a lot of poetry. I know what I like, and it isn’t Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s work.
Rillette and Other Things That Start with “P”
Chop meat is/was fabulous so well enough was left be. A filet is a filet is still a filet, but a rillette is more equal than others.
POETS Day! The Villanelle
As forms go, the villanelle wants you not to take it seriously. At a glance, it’s childish. It seems the stuff of sing-song nursery rhymes. It is not.
Spring Minestrone
Is minestrone pronounced minestrone-eh as if a Canadian was offering it to you, minestrone-ee as if there were no generous Canadians aboot?
POETS Day! Li Bai, Ernest Fenollosa, and Ezra Pound
Li Bia, who Ernest Fenollosa and Ezra Pound refer to as Rihaku as he is known in Japan, was born in 701 A.D.
Not French Onion Dip
We fast track that kind of thing, and for good reason. French onion dip is delicious. This onion dip is preferable.
POETS Day! Kit Marlowe v Sir Walter Ralegh
Sir Walter Ralegh was…well, he was Sir Walter Ralegh. Unfortunately, like Kit Marlowe, he found trouble and fell out of favor with the queen.
Chili with Szechuan Pepper
All of this is true. I don’t live in Austin. I don’t live in San Antonio, Houston, El Paso, or Amarillo. I don’t even live in Texas. In fact, I hate the Dallas Cowboys...
POETS Day! Andrew Marvell
Remember when you were a kid and every other kid in the neighborhood got a pony and you didn’t even know you wanted a pony but suddenly you had to have one? Everybody’s playing...
Braised Lamb Shanks with Tarragon
Lamb is the traditional centerpiece of an Easter feast. So here is my take on braised lamb shanks with a Mediterranean tilt.
POETS Day! HD, As In Hilda Doolittle
I think the most interesting aspect of this Hilda Doolittle poem is its “direct treatment of the thing.” It is an impressive six lines.
Mongolian Chicken: The Koumintang Consolation Prize
When Wu almost drowned in a typhoon that wrecked his stall he moved on to the entertainment biz. That, in a nutshell, is the origin story of Mongolian Chicken.
POETS Day! Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens appears to have a need for religion even though he’s rejected it. There’s an absence he feels.
Pork Chops alla Milanese
The Italians have cotoletta alla Milanese and the Austrians have Wiener schnitzel. So let’s make Pork Chops alla Milanese
POETS Day! Delmore Schwartz
I can’t speak to Delmore Schwartz’s entire body of work, but of the poems I’ve come across, this seems the best and most complete convergence of the themes I mentioned above.
The Haller Pizza
This combination is known as The Haller Pizza at my house. We make it at least once a month.
POETS Day! Marianne Moore
In her own poetry, Marianne Moore largely eschewed traditional meter but despite that her form is incredibly regimented.
Pizza Dough: The Descent of Man
There was a time when old, wizened women kneading pizza dough could smell changes in humidity and adjust accordingly. My recipe is ripped from the internet.
POETS Day! Hart Crane
Poor Hart Crane the Ohioan/New Yorker ran off to France for some peace and quiet and still made the gossip rounds of the artsy set in New York and London.
