Monday, September 30, 2024

the making of things

"What is it like to eat an idea or its suggestion?"

It is the end of September     I feel the emptiness of the memories I forgot    but it's hardly a war     the heat is merely that of a kitchen    and I am fifteen and waiting   to transform ingredients into happiness     to make meaning with sweet triumph    I imagine my throne made with spoonsful of sugar   mean to spin jalebis airy as as asemic wishes     instead what I've made   clings to me like tears    my dad tells me    it's wonderful, it's wonderful     it really is wonderful, he says     but jalebis are proud as royal signatures      and what I have in the pan are droppings of batter     dad's hand lifts my chin   his other hand sketches in the air   name your dish after you make it, he tells me    he peers at the pan again    don't you see?    what you've made are the best "jalebi balls" I've ever seen    this is truly the best cooking advice        I will ever be given    to say what a thing is after it is done   the best writing advice        the best advice really
_________
Note: The quote is from RPT MC-60 00.27 8 by Tan Lin a poem about Wiley Dufresne's restaurant WD-50. We ate there once maybe 20 years ago? It seemed like a very New York thing to do at the time. (We used to go to fancy restaurants for lunch because the menu tends to be less expensive at lunch than at dinner.)
Pic: Across the fence, our neighbor's woods. 

10 comments:

Sarah said...

love this. and love the idea of memories I've forgotten.

Nance said...

Say what a thing is after it is done--and don't tell anyone what you started out making.

Julia Child said, "Never apologize. Never explain."

I think all this is the key to Creativity.

StephLove said...

Lovely memory and sentiment

StephLove said...

If it is a memory, I should say. Guess I shouldn't assume the speaker of the poem is the author of the poem, but with you, I think it usually is, right?

Jenny said...

Beautiful- and that really is the best advice.

maya said...

Thanks, Sarah!

maya said...

Oh, to be like Julia Child! Thanks for this, Nance--another nugget to treasure...

maya said...

Thanks, Steph--it usually is, yes... If I reference my parents it most certainly is :)!

maya said...

Thanks, Jenny. The "balls" part of it always made me chuckle because it was so incongruous. But it is solid advice.

Gillian said...

Nice

just look up

I'm not alarmed  by the new  today                        forever is now                        remembering                          is ...