POEM 1

Having a Coke With You
(Written in 1960, Published 1965) 

is even more fun than going to San Sebastian, Irún, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne
or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in Barcelona
partly because in your orange shirt you look like a better happier St. Sebastian
partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love for yoghurt
partly because of the fluorescent orange tulips around the birches
partly because of the secrecy our smiles take on before people and statuary
it is hard to believe when I’m with you that there can be anything as still
as solemn as unpleasantly definitive as statuary when right in front of it
in the warm New York 4 o’clock light we are drifting back and forth
between each other like a tree breathing through its spectacles

and the portrait show seems to have no faces in it at all, just paint
you suddenly wonder why in the world anyone ever did them
                                                                                                              I look
at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world
except possibly for the Polish Rider occasionally and anyway it’s in the Frick
which thank heavens you haven’t gone to yet so we can go together for the first
Time and the fact that you move so beautifully more or less takes care of Futurism
just as at home I never think of the Nude Descending a Staircase or
at a rehearsal a single drawing of Leonardo or Michelangelo that used to wow me
and what good does all the research of the Impressionists do them
when they never got the right person to stand near the tree when the sun sank
or for that matter Marino Marini when he didn’t pick the rider as carefully
as the horse
                              it seems they were all cheated of some marvelous experience
which is not going to go wasted on me which is why I’m telling you about it

POEM 2

My Heart

(published posthumously in 1974 in Selected Poems)

I'm not going to cry all the time

nor shall I laugh all the time,

I don't prefer one "strain" to another.

I'd have the immediacy of a bad movie,

not just a sleeper, but also the big,

overproduced first-run kind. I want to be

at least as alive as the vulgar. And if

some aficionado of my mess says "That's

not like Frank!," all to the good! I

don't wear brown and grey suits all the time,

do I? No. I wear workshirts to the opera,

often. I want my feet to be bare,

I want my face to be shaven, and my heart—

you can't plan on the heart, but

the better part of it, my poetry, is open.

POEM 3

Mayakovsky
(Published in Meditations in an Emergency, 1957)

1

My heart’s aflutter!

I am standing in the bath tub

crying. Mother, mother

who am I? If he

will just come back once

and kiss me on the face

his coarse hair brush

my temple, it’s throbbing!

then I can put on my clothes

I guess, and walk the streets.

2

I love you. I love you,

but I’m turning to my verses

and my heart is closing

like a fist.

Words! be

sick as I am sick, swoon,

roll back your eyes, a pool,

and I’ll stare down

at my wounded beauty

which at best is only a talent

for poetry.

Cannot please, cannot charm or win

what a poet!

and the clear water is thick

with bloody blows on its head.

I embrace a cloud,

but when I soared

it rained.

3

That’s funny! there’s blood on my chest

oh yes, I’ve been carrying bricks

what a funny place to rupture!

and now it is raining on the ailanthus

as I step out onto the window ledge

the tracks below me are smoky and

glistening with a passion for running

I leap into the leaves, green like the sea

4

Now I am quietly waiting for

the catastrophe of my personality

to seem beautiful again,

and interesting, and modern.

The country is grey and

brown and white in trees,

snows and skies of laughter

always diminishing, less funny

not just darker, not just grey.

It may be the coldest day of

the year, what does he think of

that? I mean, what do I? And if I do,

perhaps I am myself again.

WINE #1

“Dry Riesling” 2023 from NATHAN KENDALL 

Region: Seneca Lake, Finger Lakes AVA

Grape: Riesling

Viticulture: Sourced from three Organic & Sustainable vineyards on Seneca Lake. Vines range from 20-40 years in age.

Soil Type: Varies by site, including silt loam, gravelly loam, and shale stone

Vinification: Naturally fermented in a combination of neutral French oak and stainless steel. The wines are then aged on the gross lees until bottling the following summer.

Tasting Notes: 

light to medium bodied; dry, ripe apricot, meyer lemon zest and sweet herbs with white flowers, wet stone, and honeyed notes; medium plus acid, round texture.

About the Winemaker:

• After many years traveling the world, working at various wineries and building his knowledge and expertise in both ‘new’ and ‘old world’ winemaking, Nathan Kendall, a FLX native, founded N. Kendall wines in 2011.

• His passion is to create wines in an old world style using quality grapes and minimal intervention.

• His international experience took him to other noteworthy ‘cool climate’ regions, i.e. Sonoma (CA), Willamette Valley (OR), Waipara (NZ), Adelaide Hills (AUS), and Mosel (GER).

• The majority of his focus is on the production of still wines using riesling, pinot noir, chardonnay, and cabernet franc, however, he also produces some sparkling wines.

• Lots are carefully sorted; only pristine fruit carries on to a prolonged spontaneous fermentation period. Post fermentation, the wine ages for months on the gross lees to enhance texture. Wines are then carefully racked, never fined, and gently filtered before bottling. 

WINE #2

“Le Rouge” 2023 from BARBICHETTE

Region: North Fork of Long Island AVA & Seneca Lake AVA (FLX)

Grapes: 50% Merlot (Macari), 50% Cabernet Franc (Wiemer)

Viticulture: Biodynamic certified

Soil Type: Haven loam, Riverhead sandy loam (Merlot) and lime silt & loam (Wiemer) - vines are 10-30 yrs of age.

Vinification & elevage: Whole cluster stomp into large eggs for maceration over 10 days.  Daily punch-downs as needed. Pressed into a neutral 25hL cask for the remainder of fermentation and its élevage. Spontaneously fermented with native yeasts. Unfined, unfiltered. No sulphur added.

Tasting Notes: 

The lovechild of Cabernet Franc (Seneca Lake) and Merlot (North Fork), Le Rouge bursts with fresh fruit and brambly charm; the palate effuses red fruit and toffee notes - think cherry, cranberry and red currants - and finishes with a subtle hint of black tea.

About the Winemakers:

• Louisiane (raised bt France, Switzerland, NY) comes from a background of art and fashion design; she’s drawn to simplicity and quality. César spent his childhood bt Nicaragua and Miami, and in his 20s, moved to NY to study photography; he’s obsessive about technique and precision. In 2012, he launched Café Integral, a way to share a taste of Nicaragua and practice technique and precision beyond the photography lab. 

• What began as an experiment in making wine for family and friends (they made the first 30 cases of riesling in a corner of their BK coffee roastery) is now a full blown production, from a single cuvée to upwards of ten!

• Through the production of both wine and coffee, all of which is made here in Brooklyn, they marry simplicity, quality, technique, and precision, showcasing poetry through beans from Nicaragua, and grapes from the great state of New York–from the North Fork to the Finger Lakes.

• Wine <> Coffee : grown, harvested, and processed.

• Committed to a less-is-more philosophy they source highest quality grapes from growers whose farming practices align with their vision of celebrating terroir and quality. Nothing added, nothing taken away.

WRITING PROMPT #1

This poem is part self-celebration, part anti-apology, and part ars poetica (a poem about writing poetry). It is also part of his canon of “I do this I do that” poetry, as many have coined his style. In full, however, it is a self-portrait implementing matter-of-fact statements to paint sharp and exact lines. 

Now let’s write our own self-portraits utilizing similar claims that alternate between the literal and the figurative. How do we fill in or improvise our own personalities? What images describe you without describing you? Fill in the following blanks:

1. I want ___________

2. I am ____________

3. I wear ___________ to _____________

4. I am bad at ____________

5. I am not ______________

WRITING PROMPT #2

Inspired by O’Hara’s “I do this, I do that” style of writing, try to catalogue a day in your life in a poem. Are you walking down the street? Which street? What time of day is it? What’s happening in the news? What song is playing in the background? Who are you meeting for dinner? The more specific, personal and available, the better.

WRITING PROMPT #3

Using your notes/imagery/sensations from tasting each wine, write a poem that bridges two disparate environments and seasons.