HARVEST MOI HARVEST

And I truly enjoyed reading through ALL THAT, a collected chapbooks collection by Jim McCrary. First, I love the idea of *collected chaps*. And Jim's poems are wonderful; here's one that bucks to be my favorite and seems absolutely fresh in light of Obama-time:

Inspired by a Rumor that Edward Abbey
Was Spotted Last Week at a Hardware
Store in Espanola, New Mexico

The barbed wire was French
The cattle were Spanish
The rope was from Egypt
The gunpowder was from China
The natives, some say, were form Siberia
The wind was out of the north pole
And the fuckin' mesquite came up from Mexico

So what is all this shit
about saving the "American" West?

Certainly better reading than a book I won't read for its title -- The $64 Tomato -- since said title reminds of the paltry results of my summer garden this season. Who else would have four fig trees and only come up with four figs? Who else would have eight tomato plants with individual trelisses (sp?) and only come up with 590 tomatoes? Who else would harvest 2 decorative squashes from its entire season? One orange squash? Plant this New Yorker in one of the most fertile spots on earth and, what, she musters 40 persimmons from two trees! I could go on (just look at that list below). But let's move on before I write a gardening book. Anyway, this probably will be my last notation for this City Slicker's Harvest (well, until the results of the "winter garden" come in....I don't know what a "winter garden" is but will find out, and hopefully its harvest will be more than just for the blog post rant...)

Hmm. Actually, maybe I should write a gardening book from the perspective of one who is utterly inept at it....Anyhooo--

Here's my latest Relished W(h)ine List:

THE FINAL (!) CITY SLICKER'S HARVEST:
40 persimmons
2 orange decorative squash
4 green figs
12 Santa Rosa plums
50 apricots
86 strawberries
1,551 basil leaves
377 purple basil leaves
267 mint leaves
505 pinches of parsley
7 zucchini
7 yellow squash
1 orange squash
590 tomatoes
40 green figs
23 green onion stalks
302 green peppers
11 red peppers
8 Japanese eggplants
45 purple table grapes


PUBLICATIONS
ALL THAT: THE COLLECTED CHAPBOOKS, poems by Jim McCrary

IN MEDIAS RES, poems by Karen An-hwei Lee

GOD'S ONE HUNDRED PROMISES, poems by Karen An-hwei Lee

ARDOR, poems by Karen An-hwei Lee

CORNSTARCH FIGURINE, poems by Elizabeth Treadwell

HOLIDAY IDYLLING, poems by Vernon Frazer

INCESSANT SEEDS, poems by Sheila Murphy

THE ANGEL OF DULUTH, poems by Madelon Sprengnether

RESTORATION POEMS by Ed Baker

FOURSQUARE 2, Ed. Jessica Smith & featuring poems by Brandi Homan, Melissa Severein, Becca Klaver and Hanna Andrews

BRYAN PEARCE--A PRIVATE VIEW, art monograph/biography by Marion Whybrow

THE BOAT, short stories by Nam Le

FAIR WARNING, novel by Robert Olen Butler

DOG, novel by Michelle Herman

EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE, novel by Philip Margolin

CITY OF THE SUN, novel by David Levien

THE GENESIS CODE, novel by John Case

THE MURDER ARTIST, novel by John Case

THE KEEPSAKE, novel by Tess Gerritsen

RISING PHOENIX, novel by Kyle Mills

STORMING HEAVEN, novel by Kyle Mills


WINES
1996 Greenock Creek Barossa Valley cabernet
1986 Rausan Segla
2005 Peter Michael "Belle Cote" chardonnay
1990 Raymond Lafond
2003 Dutch Henry Los Carneros chardonnay
1990 Paolo Scavino Bric Del Fiasc
2007 Spottswood sauvignon blanc
1968 Mayacamas zinfandel
2004 Floral Springs merlot
2007 Rombauer Vineyards Carneros chardonnay
2005 Rombauer Vineyards Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon
2005 Rombauer Vineyards Joy Late Harvest chardonnay