More wine, Please!
April 16, 2007
W ork on the Columbus novel continues. Columbus is insane, in an asylum in Seville. Nobody believes he’s actually Christopher Columbus, except maybe a nurse named Consulea. Two years after he was supposed to sail, after a lot of medication, and a lot of silence, he starts to tell stories about how he got his boats. My friend Paulette once said the writer Timothy Findley said the darkness we find in our characters is most often the darkness we need to face in ourselves. Yikes!!!! He also used to say, “more wine, please,” which made me like him a lot more than I already did. The phrase “more wine, please” is a pleasant thing to say. It’s polite and leads to some degree of insobriety, which is nice. After several glasses of wine, I like saying: “Drinking equal portions of milk, one wouldn’t feel this good.” Timothy Findley's quote is more pithy.
Soon in this space, my review of my friend Gail Sobat’s new book: The Book of Mary. I can’t believe I actually know this woman – she is so talented. And this book – brilliant. A page-turning, vigorously researched, beautifully written narrative on Mary of Nazareth. A send-up with style and verve. Buy it. Read it!!! Damn it’s good!!! And this isn’t the review. I am gushing about this book. Sad that there isn’t another one to read right now. What happens to Mary? What happens to her grandchild, by the other Mary and Jesus?
Enough. I got some fine presents on the weekend. A new humidor, and a ton of great cigars. An MP3 collection of the entire Steely Dan. Everything!!! I’m listening to The Royal Scam (The Caves of Altamira) right now. Also, a collection of Durrell’s poetry. A Tibetian Prayer Wheel. And a trip to Elk Island with my girls, Cindy-Lou and Mack. Great day out at Elk. Tawayik Lake was still mostly frozen, the sun had strength, and the fire was nice. Did I mention I got a new desk! It's got the roller table for my keyboard. Beautiful dark wood. Love it. And, as is my custom, I called my birth mom, Glenna, who was not there. Ever since she found me, I call her on my birth day, her birth day…anyway, I left a message…something about how difficult it must have been for her to push out a 25-pound turkey….(I'm six-one, Glenna is five-foot-nothing) ha! Lame joke, but any lame joke repeated several times with an innocent expectation of a laugh becomes funny....eventually.
“So it goes,” Kurt. "So it goes."
2 Comments
1. Mike had this to say: Apr 16, 2007 ~ 21:30 ~ #
Your birth mother’s name is Glenna. So is mine. What an odd coincidence. Odd that I find this out now, after knowing you for the better part of seven years. Odd and intriguing.
2. Rosemary had this to say: Apr 17, 2007 ~ 08:16 ~ #
Glad you had an amazing birthday. I love going out to Elk Island Park and just vegging out in the sunshine on a nice day. The power of nature is amazing.
Prayer wheel….awesome!
Happy Belated my friend.
Like I always say…we poets hang out together once a week and we barely know one another.