Poem About Wine to Deal With Grief

by Farley on January 17th, 2008

Red Wine

(”Vino Tinto” by Sandra Cisneros, racked and filtered)

Sandra Cisneros poem Wine that isn’t white swims

you to my mind. Maybe Pinot Noir

or the king of reds. The tannins,

the warmth, the smooth velvet that slips

down my throat and past my hips,

making incisions as it goes, burning

little fires across my lips.

An evening that begins with pop.

This one, and a barrel more.

The light of a single candle over which

the bottle is decanted. In a restaurant or

at home. With midnight dessert or an

early brunch. As I compose blog posts,

newspaper columns…. this.

All the while, your tasting notes linger

in my ear, statistics you recited, your picks for

the Top 100.How we fought over the wine

list, who would order. We tasted

love, didn’t we…. Oh, how we tasted.

(For my friend Jeremy)

Micah Stack
Jan 19, 2008 at 4:13 am

Farles, as I managed to croak out when I spoke at Jeremy’s service, there is no more apposite tribute to him than poetry. How he would have appreciated this, despite his (as you say) predilection for whiskey. It grows increasingly difficult to refer to everything about Jeremy in the past tense, but perhaps I shouldn’t even fight it anymore: just keep believing he’s still an invisible email away.
Farley
Jan 19, 2008 at 12:46 pm

Micah,
Sorry to reconnect over such incredible sadness. I’m so out of touch and just needed to relate with someone who knew him.

I miss him so much … even though I’m over here and it would sometimes take us too long to write back to each other, etc.

It’s all so hard to believe. Damn. I mean, damn.
john witherspoon
Jan 19, 2008 at 3:20 pm

Hi Farley
Sorry to hear about your loss my internet friend!! Jermey sounds like he was a good friend with a good set of ears.
Very nice poem.
John

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