Another taste of Jim Harrison

This is the second half of River II, a poem from his latest collection of poems, Songs of Unreason.

“Once on our nighttime farm on a moonlit walk

the clouds pushed by a big western wind

became a school of whales swimming hard

across the cold heavans and I finally knew

that we walk the bottom of an ocean we call sky.”

 

German Literature Month

Thinking about participating in German Literature Month?  Check out Love German Books for details. My reading list for the month:

German Literature:  Sunset, by Klaus Modick

Crime Fiction: Gottes Tochter, by Friedrich Ani

From Austria and Switzerland:  Der kurze Brief zum langen Abschied, by Peter Handke

German Classics: Erfolg, by Lion Feuchtwanger or Lausbubengeschichten by Ludwig Thoma

Update: I forgot to mention that the folks responsible for German Literature month are Lizzy’s Literary Life and Beauty is a Sleeping Cat. You should check out their blogs for more info, not to mention great suggestions on what to read.

More Harrison

William Hastings, over at the Industrial Worker Book Review, has written one of the best reviews of a Jim Harrison book I have ever read. As a friend noted on Twitter, “It was well written, without trying to outdo the subject matter.” After reading the review, I hustled over to 2 different bookstores (one a Barnes & Noble), but neither one had it. I ended up ordering it online. It’s times like this that I miss my local Borders store – based on past experiences with buying Harrison’s work from them, they would have had it on the shelf already.

Wish I could be there…..

DIENSTAG, 08. NOVEMBER 2011

BEGINN 20:30 UHR
LANGE KRIMINACHT IN DER SZENERIE
SÜDEN UND DAS SYNDIKAT
Gaststätte Szenerie,
Rosenheimerstr. 123, München

Mörderisches im Minutentakt von KrimiautorInnen, allesamt Mitglieder des SYNDIKATs, der Autorengruppe deutschsprachige Kriminalliteratur.

Mit dabei: Inge Löhnig, Beatrix Mannel, Tanja Weber, Andreas Föhr, Hannsdieter Loy, Jenk Saborowski, sowie Friedrich Ani, der seinem brandneuen neuen Tabor-Süden-Roman “Süden und die Schlüsselkinder” vorstellt. Außerdem wird der Krimiautor, Tatort-Kommissar und Koch Gregor Weber eigens für diesen Abend die „Münchner Krimi-Suppe” auftischen.
Eintritt: 10 € (inkl. Begrüßungsdrink)

Jim Harrison Poem

From “Broom” (fom Songs of Unreason, coming out in November:

To remember that you’re alive
visit the cemetery of your father
at noon after you’ve made love
and are still wrapped in a mammalian
odor that you are forced to cherish.
Under each stone is someone’s inevitable
surprise, the unexpected death
of their biology that struggled hard as it must.
Now go home without looking back
at the fading cemetery, enough is enough,
but stop on the way to buy the best wine
you can afford and a dozen stiff brooms.
Have a few swallows then throw the furniture
out the window and then begin sweeping . . .

I know it’s early….

… but gee, TSV 1860 has looked pretty impressive so far this season.

Spaetzle tweak

In the spirit of Mark Bittman’s, Food Matters, I have been monkeying around with my spätzle recipe in an effort to make it more healthy and I think I have hit upon a formula that works. First, I caramelize some onions in a large skillet. I have also been know to use a leek, chopped into small pieces and added after the onions have started to brown. Set a big pot of water to boil. For the spätzle, I use:

1 cup regular flour 3/4 cup whole wheat flour 1/4 cup cornmeal (fine is better) nutmeg – about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp pinch of salt 2 eggs enough water to make the dough about the consistency of pancake batter.

I make the spätzle in batches, using my mom’s old spätzle maker, but you can use a colander with holes and a wooden spoon to force the batter into the pot of gently boiling water. About a minute after the spätzle rise to the top, remove them with a slotted spoon and add them to the skillet with the onions. Repeat until you have used all the dough. Stir the spätzle/onion/leek mixture. Serve. Add grated cheese at the table.

Poem of the Day

A Poem Like A Grenade

It is made to be rolled down a flight of stairs,  placed under a guilty hat,  or casually dropped into a basket among the desks of the wrongheaded statesmen. As it tumbled on the carpeted stairs or settles quietly  in its wire-wicker nest,  it begins to unfold,  a ragged flower whose raw petals  burn and scar… Its wastepaper soil catches fire,  the hat is blown from its hook. Five or six faces are suddenly,  permanently changed… There will be many poems written in the shape of a grenade -  one hard piece of metal flying off might even topple a government.  John Haines

Looks like fun

New Jim Harrison on the way

Looking through Amazon, I see that Jim Harrison has a new novel coming out this October entitled, The Great Leader. Here is the description:

Author Jim Harrison has won international acclaim for his masterful body of work, including Returning to Earth, Legends of the Fall and over thirty books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. In his most original work to date, Harrison delivers an enthralling, witty and expertly-crafted novel following one man’s hunt for an elusive cult leader, dubbed “The Great Leader.”

On the verge of retirement, Detective Sunderson begins to investigate a hedonistic cult, which has set up camp near his home in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. At first, the self-declared Great Leader seems merely a harmless oddball, but as Sunderson and his sixteen-year-old sidekick dig deeper, they find him more intelligent and sinister than they realized. Recently divorced and frequently pickled in alcohol, Sunderson tracks his quarry from the woods of Michigan to a town in Arizona, filled with criminal border-crossers, and on to Nebraska, where the Great Leader’s most recent recruits have gathered to glorify his questionable religion. But Sunderson’s demons are also in pursuit of him. 

Rich with character and humor, The Great Leader is at once a gripping excursion through America’s landscapes and the poignant story of a man grappling with age, lost love and his own darker nature.

I look forward to buying it when it comes out.