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+ Neil Addison + Raymond K Avery + Shimanta Bhattacharyya + Duncan Broe + Gregory Gilbert Gumbs + Alan Morrison + Misti Rainwater-Lites + Gorden Scrapens
only you
it helps of course
to have some weight
pulling on the rope
but harder to find
are the upturned eyes
that focus
on only you
patched work
… disconnected morphemes floated past
it was perhaps the sixth day that we fished for them
storing our catch in shallow bowls
where they shone, transparent
kaleidoscopic
certainly the temperature shot down
was it at that point that the seamstress was asked
to line language with things?
her needle ran hither and thither
with no time to cut patterns
sewing whatever was nearest to hand
I can see her now
racing the cold
but who remembers the cracking as the ice advanced
the rising and falling of lights…?
Edo
1600 - 1867
For Kanazawa, the Edo period constitutes
a flowering of aesthetic pursuits -
gold leaf
ceramics
lacquer
silk
tea
Noh,
all balanced on the overflowing rice tributes from land
gripped by the firm if ruthless hand of the Maeda clan.
Things haven’t changed, so much that Kanazawa (golden bog)
is now completely water-logged,
a place where only carp and lilies live,
reserved, traditional, conservative.
Yaki Imo
Ringing out - the roasted sweet potato seller`s call
(these days recorded)
Making Rasmalai In Kanazawa
Early summer and it is already 33 degrees.
I unearth Vinita’s gift of rasmalai -
to be made when missing home.
Crushed cardamom seeds
in milk & melted sugar,
bubbling all the while
an old friend drapes
his arm round
someone
else.
Back in the bread basket
who cares who
is sick.
Yoghurt ferments
with good reason.
Delicious rasmalai:
remember to refrigerate before enjoying.
Yaki Imo
Ringing out - the roasted sweet potato seller`s call
(these days recorded)
Y A K I I M O O O O O
the traffic an accompaniment
in this carpet-covered room.
Maybe I`ll make a curry today
for one,
a carrot, an onion.
A motorbike is buzzing in the distance.
My friend left me a pitta bread
inside the fridge.
Tears fall before I start to chop and
I bless all those who do not look.
It is a cold I have,
red-eyed,
a cold.
Still the same old yaki imo call
(tape faded)
the traffic quite loud still.
YAKI IMOOOOO
how your whole life
how
yourwholelife
isrippeda
parthowyoucanno
longertrustany
onehowtheonlymin
dyouknowisyo
urshownote
venth
at
On I Tow
on i tow on no wot i no
av luv vul va
yes i sey yes i sey
may i av luv vul va i yam
now on w no won now on w no won
no way yaw on