Today, let us ruminate upon a remarkable Gay man's remarkable gift for food and writing: James Beard. In his recipe-laden1964 autobiography, Beard's boyhood Christmases in Portland, Oregon, are shown in all of their uniqueness. His mother ran a small hotel, and relied on a man named Let to get things done, in and out of the kitchen.
The Christmas sequence from Delights and Prejudices occurs in chapter 5, beginning on page 164
https://archive.org/details/delightsprejudic0000bear
“Well,” he said presently, “what is it that is wrong with Christmas?”
“Why,” I answered, “all the romance, the joy, the beauty of it has gone, crushed and killed by the greed of commerce and the horrors of war.”
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Considering how jaded the world is, who said writing a holiday tale was ever an easy task? Surely, Father Time has perspective on his side, and is always willing to advise the young-at-heart if their ears are open
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One of the things I'm grateful for in 2023 is happening upon the recordings of a certain radio program. Proudly We Hail started after WW2 as a show of a mere fifteen minutes, but it was one dedicated to bringing true Short Stories to its listening audience. Under the writing baton of Tom Petty (yeah, not THAT Tom Petty...) some wonderful performances rang out live to everywhere in the world the Armed Forces Network broadcast.
To remind us how delightful the Short Story form can be (
How about re-integrating some childlike wonder -- awe for all the strange and marvelous
things in the world -- into your daily outlook? The unexpectedly beautiful?
The Marenghi Organ (built in 1905) performs Freddie Mercury's Bohemian Rhapsody
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTnGI6Knw5Q
Twenty-five days of memorable performances, stories and real-life encounters.
So, we'll start with something to wake you old Grinches up! Let this brief real-life encounter defrost
your jaded holiday cynicism. Let it re-awaken the dormant spirit you’ve suppressed for far too long
A birthday girl's pinata
https://youtube.com/shorts/okJA_jhECM4?si=dM2DL5Dpke2z9rCf
.
I.
No one has a right to a broken heart,
They'll try and tell us,
Cuz this age of Internet and A.I.
Only loves a wedge.
A heart that feels, right about now's, not smart,
And ain't tough enough
To force a way through when it'd better die
Than admit it cares.
II.
.
I guess with death, a father’s wish is a simple one –
To believe it’s an easy, painless one, because
What is a father to do with the lifelong memory
Of hearing the shrieks, the cries and pleading
Begging in tones to “Take it away”; to “Make it stop”;
To “Help me; help me; help me…”
And so, for a father to live through the death of a son
And have these thoughts his constant companion
To his own end is too cruel to imagine, and, naturally,
.
for Colin
Sonnet No. 1
Your fingers inch along my shoulder blades,
Caressing, releasing, gripping and spread
Like dripping flame to drench me in cascades
Where every part of me your hands are led.
Soothing exploration is what I feel,
A student under a master's care,
Whose object is loving and meant to heal,
Though silent and extremely aware.
But the fire in me which your caress stokes
Is o
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Night Blooms
Haibun
Early the other morning, I couldn’t sleep anymore from all the memory-filled dreams I was having, so I took the dog outside. Standing in the garden, all the world peaceful and sweet, I saw a truly Mid-western moon – the type I grew up. Placid and nearly full, and yet hidden within the glory of its own eerie light. Moons like this remind me I have no home anymore, not with my parents now gone from the world.
5 AM, the moon
playing night
.
Thanksgiving and the Adhesion Among Men
@Parker Owens brought a certain song to my attention yesterday. I did a little digging on The Vacant Chair and learned a thing or two. Although the lyrics portray a Civil War family mourning the loss of a beloved son, the poem was actually written in tribute to love. Henry Stevenson Washburn was 48 years old when he met and watched 18-year-old John William Grout lead a charge and die in the Battle of Ball’s Bluff. The young lieute
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Gay Song Seven – “You're the cutest jailbird I ever did see”
Note: for this series of postings, the term 'Gay Song' refers to music written to/for/by or about Gay men or women. A second category also deals with music identified as Gay because it speaks to the heart of the Gay Experience.
So to make this easier, I will call them Gay in the 1st Degree (to/for/by/about), or Gay in the 2nd Degree (like Judy Garland singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow).
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Here's a poem and my translation of it.
El Desdichado
de Gérard Labrunie, ou Gérard de Nerval
Je suis le Ténébreux – le Veuf – l’Inconsolé,
Le Prince d’Aquitaine à la Tour abolie:
Ma seule Etoile est morte – et mon luth constellé
Porte le Soleil noir de la Mélancolie.
Dans la nuit du Tombeau, Toi qui m’as consolé,
Rends-moi le Pausilippe et la mer d’Italie,
La fleur qui plaisait tant à mon coeur désolé,
Et la treille où le Pampre à la Rose s’a
...for a special someone...
Sonnet
… no rights have I to feel a certain way,
… no claim not pleading in pentameter,
… no earthly grip or hope my words will sway,
or trace the scope of their parameter.
Like a lawyer, skirting nine tenths of the law
to avoid thoughts of what I don’t possess,
my sad voice still reaches out to draw
belief in your heart for the love I confess.
… although no claim I have to your control,
… alt
Ode to the caesura.
It brings our thoughts to a stop.
It laps at our minds like a sop.
And halts coloratura.
How glad the many millions
of notions are prevented
from finding full expression
in the boundless words of the world,
for then, once spilled on paper,
how might we ever gather them up again;
how might the bottle be re-plugged;
how might the heart be re-assembled,
if fancy-fr
Gay Song Six – Kissing her brother Paul
Note: for this series of postings, the term 'Gay Song' refers to music written to/for/by or about Gay men or women. A second category also deals with music identified as Gay because it speaks to the heart of the Gay Experience.
So to make this easier, I will call them Gay in the 1st Degree (to/for/by/about), or Gay in the 2nd Degree (like Judy Garland singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow).
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This youtube creator has made a really cool video
Gay Song Five – Bing Crosby goes 'Gay for Pay'
Note: for this series of postings, the term 'Gay Song' refers to music written to/for/by or about Gay men or women. A second category also deals with music identified as Gay because it speaks to the heart of the Gay Experience.
So to make this easier, I will call them Gay in the 1st Degree (to/for/by/about), or Gay in the 2nd Degree (like Judy Garland singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow).
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Gay in the 2nd degree is Bing Crosby's glo
Gay Song Four – Rolling Stones
Note: for this series of postings, the term 'Gay Song' refers to music written to/for/by or about Gay men or women. A second category also deals with music identified as Gay because it speaks to the heart of the Gay Experience.
So to make this easier, I will call them Gay in the 1st Degree (to/for/by/about), or Gay in the 2nd Degree (like Judy Garland singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow).
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"I'm a lonesome schoolboy, and I just came into town" is h
Gay Song Three – love betrayed
Note: for this series of postings, the term 'Gay Song' refers to music written to/for/by or about Gay men or women. A second category also deals with music identified as Gay because it speaks to the heart of the Gay Experience.
So to make this easier, I will call them Gay in the 1st Degree (to/for/by/about), or Gay in the 2nd Degree (like Judy Garland singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow).
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Will Young won the first ever Pop Idol television show in
Gay Song Two …oh daddy…
Note: for this series of postings, the term 'Gay Song' refers to music written to/for/by or about Gay men or women. A second category also deals with music identified as Gay because it speaks to the heart of the Gay Experience.
So to make this easier, I will call them Gay in the 1st Degree (to/for/by/about), or Gay in the 2nd Degree (like Judy Garland singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow).
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Ed Sheeran's phenomenal live performa
Gay Song One – quelle tragédie
Note: for this series of postings, the term 'Gay Song' refers to music written to/for/by or about Gay men or women. A second category also deals with music identified as Gay because it speaks to the heart of the Gay Experience.
So to make this easier, I will call them Gay in the 1st Degree (to/for/by/about), or Gay in the 2nd Degree (like Judy Garland singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow).
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My first selection is definitely Gay in the 1st Degree! We
"Touch my robe."
Scrooge did as he was told, and held it fast.
Holly, mistletoe, red berries, ivy, turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn, meat, pigs, sausages, oysters, pies, puddings, fruit, and punch, all vanished instantly. So did the room, the fire, the ruddy glow, the hour of night, and they stood in the city streets on Christmas morning, where (for the weather was severe) the people made a rough, but brisk and not unpleasant kind of music, in scraping the snow from the pavement in f
The Amazing and Wonderful Famous-Barr
As I begin posting my series of Christmas short stories and novellas set in this department store, I am struck by how paltry and sad the Wikipedia entry is for this amazing company. In an effort to improve that article, I have created this short summary, which I hope to tweak and eventually add to wiki.
My information comes from first-hand sources, primarily documents made by the company, such as employee newsletters and handbooks, an
The Last Word
sometimes a song says more than a heartbeat, sometimes a glance through a windshield shows the longest goodbyes – but mostly it's the words in our hearts and the view in our mind that says it best those I love yous speak the loudest over time.
The Altitude of Love
maybe it's something more than faith... beyond mere heartbeats and belief... maybe this love is an absolute. I want it to be.
I feel you so near to me all the time I can see how it's already a conclusion and not a supposition. I need it to be.
those are the things I mean when I say "I love you."
