{"id":4144,"date":"2016-04-10T16:12:29","date_gmt":"2016-04-10T16:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/?p=4144"},"modified":"2016-06-10T16:13:09","modified_gmt":"2016-06-10T16:13:09","slug":"food-paul-genega","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/?p=4144","title":{"rendered":"FOOD — Paul Genega"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n“To win the people, always cook them some
\n\tsavory that pleases them.”–Aristophanes<\/em><\/p>\n

-1-<\/p>\n

He grabs the hot dog,
\npositions it and grins.
\nVaricose and flabby,
\nweary and shopworn,
\nthe sea of Brooklyn watches,
\nchecking the man out.
\n 
\nSo let\u2019em look, I think,
\nas he pushes in the dog,
\nmustard dripping,
\nkraut like seaweed falling.
\nAnd I know now that they love him \u2013
\nwhistles, cheers, applause.
\n 
\nThen he shoves the rest in, slow.
\nBut not to please them.
\nNo, because he wants it.
\nLike the knishes and cannolis,
\nkielbasa and chow mein,
\none after another till
\nhe doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s in him
\nand damned if he much cares.
\n 
\nBecause power is consuming.
\nBecause each bite is a 1,001 votes.
\nBecause there\u2019s so much America to eat.
\n 
\nHey Nathan, I shout,
\ntoss another on the grill.
\nThe works this time, my friend \u2013
\nrelish and ketchup and
\nmustard of pure gold \u2013
\na frank to beat the band
\nfor the next governor of New York.<\/p>\n

\t-2-<\/p>\n

When he\u2019s polished off a dozen
\nI strap him in a chair
\nand he\u2019s rising, rising
\nover Coney Island, rising,
\nthe great borough of Brooklyn,
\nhard rollicking Manhattan
\nand the suburbs and the farms,
\nall America stretching out before him
\nlike a seven-course meal.
\n 
\nYou can have it all, I whisper,
\nif you make them bow and worship.
\n 
\nThen the chute snaps
\nand we\u2019re falling,
\nfast, fast falling
\nback in the lap of the earth,
\nthinking the whole while
\nChrist, it\u2019s true,
\nthat ethnic food don\u2019t last.<\/p>\n

-3-<\/p>\n

We hit ground in the Empire State
\nso I crown him emperor.
\nWell, he\u2019s got to start somewhere.
\n 
\nUp in Albany, I set up a kitchen
\nnearly as big as some ranches in Texas,
\nhire culinary men, each one an artist,
\neach one versed in regional cuisines \u2013
\nthe bisques and empanadas,
\ngrits and jambalayas,
\nthe folks out there call chow.
\n 
\nI buy filigreed silver, napkins
\nof alpaca, man-size candelabras\u2026
\n 
\nand we\u2019re out for the main course
\nof the big meal \u2013 the prez \u2013
\nand he\u2019s tired of saying
\nhiyafella but he\u2019s saying hiyafella
\nand he\u2019s sick of sticking his hand out
\nbut he\u2019s sticking his sore hand out
\n 
\nwhen all of a sudden
\nsome surfer snot is pointing
\nand screaming something
\nabout the emperor\u2019s new clothes,
\nthe alligator loafers and sharkskin suit
\nhe\u2019s wearing \u2013 with lunch on the lapels.
\n 
\nHey friend, I say, big-grinning,
\nwhatcha see\u2019s the blue plate special.
\nHe\u2019s just sloppy as the next guy,
\na regular ol\u2019 joe. He\u2019s a winner, man,
\na winner. No one this hungry
\ncan lose \u2013 it\u2019s un-American. <\/p>\n

-4-<\/p>\n

When the impossible has happened,
\nwhen the headlines say he\u2019s lost,
\nI send himself to bed
\nfor a 1,001 nights hungry.
\n 
\nHungry, hungry, always always hungry.
\n 
\nVisiting the White House
\nI elbow the jerk next to him,
\nmake him drop
\nan earmarked oyster
\non the mirror-parquet floor.
\n 
\nJeeze, it\u2019s come to this.
\nOur triumphs are pathetic.
\nWe don\u2019t even stay for soup.
\n 
\nNo, he goes to his bed hungry.
\nHungry, hungry, always always hungry,
\nso full of gnawing hunger
\nhe dreams he\u2019ll be devoured,
\nconsumed completely
\nso there\u2019s nothing left inside,
\n 
\nso the sun doesn\u2019t rise
\nan orange-red tomato,
\nthe moon, a fine flat bread,
\nthe whole universe
\ntemptingly delicious
\nand just beyond his reach.
\n&nbsp
\nIt\u2019s all beyond our reach \u2013 <\/p>\n

-5-<\/p>\n

except for you, luscious,
\nand the 1,001 like you,
\nhot house grown and juicy
\nand built with what it takes.
\n 
\nCome sustenance, come entree,
\ncome luncheon on the run,
\nonly this is democratic,
\nonly this can fit the bill.
\n 
\nCloser now, yes, closer,
\nCloser, close, yes, now \u2013
\n 
\ndo with him as you would
\nif he were a good ol\u2019 god.<\/p>\n

 
\n 
\n\"TMHnn,Paul Genega is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently All I Can Recall<\/em> (Salmon Poetry, Ireland, 2013). Over a forty year career, his work has appeared in journals such as Poetry, North American Review, New York Quarterly<\/em> and Free Inquiry<\/em>, and has garnered numerous awards, including the \u201cDiscovery\u201d\/The Nation Award and an individual fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He founded and directed the creative writing program at Bloomfield College, New Jersey, where his legacy continues through the Genega Endowed Scholarships. He is also the editor of Three Mile Harbor Press. Please visit www.3mileharborpress.com to learn about the current poetry book prize.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“To win the people, always cook them some savory that pleases them.”–Aristophanes -1- He grabs the hot dog, positions it and grins. Varicose and flabby, weary and shopworn, the sea of Brooklyn watches, checking the man out.   So let\u2019em look, I think, as he pushes in the dog, mustard dripping, kraut like seaweed falling. [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4150,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[210],"class_list":["post-4144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry","tag-by-renee-comet-photographer-public-domain-wikimedia-commons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4144"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4158,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4144\/revisions\/4158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/narrativenortheast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}