Vino, Verse, & Vinyl
Vino: Barbera
WineFolly's description of Barbera is such a perfect example of liminal: “Due to its pigmentation, it can taste both rich and light-bodied, offering the berry and cherry notes in bigger wines, but goes down like a treat, thanks to lively acidity. Oak-heavy styles have an extra touch of chocolate, vanilla and spice.” A Barbera is considered Italy’s wine of the people, it is accessible and a perfect wine for days that are not yet one season or another. As noted, it can have deep cherry notes, but also can feel bright due to its acidity. With that variety, it can pair with anything from a salad to BBQ.
Verse: “A Thing Shared” MFK Fisher
I fell in love with MFK Fisher’s voice and syntax with her iconic Consider the Lobster, but found her more intimate writing, like this month’s verse, to be so profound. The longer I have been a student of the craft of writing, the more and more I find myself admiring simplicity (notice the theme this month?). Around the same time as I fell in love with the poetry of Jim Harrison, I too started to adore the prose of MFK Fisher.
This story is at once, unremarkable. I often say in writing workshops that it is the job of the writer to make the ordinary extortionary. I find the most profound writing is not the kind that is trying to be profound or clever, but the writing that presents the ordinary world in such a way that the reader has no choice but to fall in love with their present moment. There is a deep romance to the moments that can fall away, lost between the memorable memories. These moments are so subtle and honest, they can take a backseat to flashy events. But MFK Fisher takes down the dirt road, literally, to have a somewhat unremarkable shared meal, both awkward and loving, to remind us that it is the little things, the small things often, that really matter.
Can you remember a time in your life like this one? Have you ever thought on beyond it happening? Why or why not?
Do you think these more simple moments are worthy of telling the story? Why or why not?
What if you romanced more simple moments like these? What would change if you did? What keeps you from already doing so?
Vinyl: “I Deserve Rest"
What music transports you to purposeful rest? Not sleep, not zoning out, not escaping, but deep rest and recovery? (find playlist via Literary Gastronomy Spotify)
