Piper Posey

1/2 oz Cointreau
2 oz gin (preferably a mildly floral one, like Pinnacle)
a few grinds of black pepper
one large ripe strawberry

mull the strawberry thoroughly in a shaker (even better if you can let the strawberry soak in the liquors first). add liquors and pepper. shake vigorously; serve in a chilled martini glass.

with Apologies to Bob Dylan

Love is the limit
a song

my parents eat in silence
without ideals or violence
they say 'I love you',
but are static like ice like fire

they stuff their faces
with food of no flavor
the wine flows freely
but without laughs or tears

cattle for the slaughter
like they are ingesting
to work just to get by
and sleep is never rest--

I weep for them
and worry I'm no better
a self-aware hypocrite
without excuse of dogma.

From JT and me:

I have absolutely no time for absolutes.

From Dan:

A shitwalk cake.

From Women

"Just living until you die is hard work."

A new moon

On Friday night,
two nights ago,
the moon was closer
than it has been to the earth
in 15 years.
You could tell--
even though I didn't know at the time--
it was full and huge and bright
on a clear, cold winter night.

From Ham on Rye, re: wine

"This stuff may not be good for surgeons but anybody who wanted to be a surgeon, there was something wrong with them to begin with."

A plane couplet

This plane is going to drop out of the sky
And we are all going to die.

How does this happen?

There is a store in the Newark airport simply entitled "America!".

There were lots of flags about.

A conversation

Stopping for brunch at the Highland Bakery on the way to the airport, Josh and Sam ask me about my plans for Thanksgiving break, which includes train rides.

Josh: I've never been on a train.
Sam: You've been on a MARTA train.
Josh: Yeah, but not a choo-choo train.