I confess that I never read much Gore Vidal, but when he signed my copy of his Judgement of Paris (a novel about a handsome young man/cipher) at the West Hollywood Book Festival and he was exceedingly polite and friendly.
Midweek Staff Meeting – Heroes
Tuesday Morning Staff Meeting – Who Are You Concerned About?
Pre-Raphaelite Poetry
It all started when Diane Rehm was talking about the novel Possession on her radio show, which I was listening to on my way to visit my sister in Delaware. I had begun but not finished the novel, but I knew that the two Victorian poets in the novel were based on Robert Browning and Christina Rossetti.
That evening, we went down to Rehoboth Beach and stopped in Browseabout Books. That particular bookshop is actually 75% useless beach knick knacks, but their poetry section, while small, had a nice, wide array of those cheap Dover Thrift editions.
I weighed in my hand Pre-Raphaelity Poetry: An Anthology (Rossetti was a Pre-Raphaelite poet and featured in the anthology) and Goblin Market and Other Poems (which is either an expression of female erotic desire in a society unwilling to accept such, or else it’s about goblins) by Christina Rossetti. I went for the former, a decision which I initially regretted, the latter being fifty cents cheaper and also being exclusively about the poet I was inspired to read. However, as I dug in, I changed my tune slightly.
Normally, I am not much for rhyming poetry, but most of the Pre-Raphaelites were interesting and even avant-garde in their rhyme schemes (though not in the head ache inducing way of Gerard Manley Hopkins). I read straight through all of Christian (though not Dante) Rossetti’s poetry and – and this is what made the book worthwhile – Swinburne.
I had downloaded some Swinburne onto my nook, but poetry is frankly awful to read on an e-reader. The devices simply aren’t made to deal with line breaks.
Being finally able to read some in its proper format was very enjoyable.
The lush, ethereal eroticism of the two writers was something spectacular and I firmly believe that, instead of whatever they’re given, young girls between the ages of thirteen and eighteen should be slipped copies of Rossetti and told not to let their parents or teachers know it or else they’ll get in trouble. Because, and I don’t mean this in a demeaning way (obviously, I also enjoyed it), but it’s the sort of poetry that girls of a certain would (I think) appreciate.
But next time I see my sister, I still think I’ll get Goblin Market and Other Poems.
Incidentally, I picked up Possession when I got home and discovered that it had been too long since I read it, so I’ve started over from the beginning.
Monday Morning Staff Meeting – Public Exposure
Weekend Reading – Drink Your Coffee Like A Man
I consider it a point of pride to drink it hot.
We’re still thinking about Adrienne Rich.
At least they provided caffeine.
“Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.” – Leonard Cohen
Thursday Morning Staff Meeting – Scalia Haunts My Future
Antonin Scalia: A Play in Three ActsCoffee Diary – July 24, 2012
My first coffee of the day was at a perky pink diner in Georgetown called Serendipity III that we ate at while waiting for the Thai Embassy to re-open. Everything there was enormous and good, but not so good as the price was high. They spelled ‘coffee’ ‘caffe’ and charged three dollars and twenty-five cents and didn’t do refills. But it was good coffee. This was before walking down to Bridge Street Books. They still have tables set outside with piles of inexpensive books – mostly Dover Press editions. When I was living in a bathroom on Prospect Ave and making $1500 a month, I spent virtually all my disposable income on books at that table. Today, for just twenty-five cents more than my coffee, I picked up a copy of Veblen’s economic classic, Theory of the Leisure Class. Painfully relevant economic insights, though his historical insights… meh. Has the book comparing Veblen’s leisure class to Debord’s spectacle been written yet? Someone ought to get to work on that. And if it has been written, someone needs to send me a complimentary copy.
The second cup was at a Barnes and Noble in Alexandria. An espresso, which was disappointing, as most espressos are. I bought a copy of Asimov’s Science Fiction. I was torn between Asimov’s and sister mag Analog, but Asimov’s had a picture of a dinosaur on the cover and a story called Mating Habits of the Late Cretaceous (which is actually a banal and unrealistic bit of marital realism in the style of Carver, except it’s not really very realistic – the marriage I mean, not the thin sci fi veneer around it), so I was suckered into picking that one.
the coffee philosopher 