There stands the glass

Columbus lost an icon of wine retail this week when Roger Gentile died on Monday. Gentile's Wine has been in business for sixty years and Roger has been in charge for over forty of them. It's not a big shop, but the selection is quality and carefully selected. He shared his wine knowledge through conversation, teaching, and in two books on wine he wrote.

I did not know him well but had a lot of respect for him as a person. He was always fun to be around during trade tastings and after the owner of the shop I managed died, he came in to offer condolences, and not to be a vulture by eyeing the store as a possible thing to poach on the cheap the way some other owners did. I appreciated the kindness he showed me during that rough time.

May his family, friends and all those he shared wine with over his long career have some peace at this sad time. Slainte.

I think this is the script of the new Bond film

Hello Dear ,

 

 

 I am Miss Ngama. A computer scientist with central bank of Nigeria. I am 26 years old, just started work with C.B.N. I came across your file which was marked X and your released disk painted RED, I took time to study it and found out that you have paid VIRTUALLY all fees and certificate but the fund has not been release to you. The most annoying thing is that they cannot tell you the truth that on no account wills they ever release the fund to you; instead they let you spend money unnecessarily.

 

 

 

 

 I do not intend to work here all the days of my life, I can release this fund to you if you can certify me of my security, and how I can run away from this Nigeria if I do this, because if I don't run away from this country after I made the transfer, I will be Seriously in trouble and my life will be in danger. This is like a Mafia setting in Nigeria; you may not understand it because you are not a Nigerian. The only thing I will need from you to release this fund is a special HARD DISK,I will need two of this hard disk to recopy your information from the corrupted one, destroy the previous one, and punch the computer to reflect in your bank within 24 banking hours.

 

 

 

 I will clean up the tracer and destroy your file, after which I will run away from Nigeria to meet with you. If you are interested. Do get in touch with me immediately, You should send to me your convenient tell/fax numbers for easy communications and also re confirm your banking details, so that there won't be any mistake.

 

 

 

Regards,

 

 

Miss Ngama

You're all just hangers on!

On a day in which I witness brand theft, when critiques of a poetry slam go passive/aggressive on Twitter, when imaginary FEMA camps for bad people are still a thing and I call out a local website for being mainstream and no longer underground this song comes to mind.

I will work with a God fearing barrister/person

Dear Friend,

This is a personal email directed to you. I got your details after an extensive on-line search Via (Network Power Charitable Trust) for a reliable person, I know I have never met you, but my mind instincts me to do this, I believe everything happens for a reason! People change so you can learn to let go, Things go wrong so that you can appreciate them when they’re right.

I am a dying woman who has decided to donate what I have to you for charitable goals.

I am 62 years old and was diagnosed for cancer about 4 years ago, kindly Contact my lawyer through this email address or you can call her private Line :{+855 887 229174 (barrister.touch@yahoo.com.vn) she is a God fearing Person work with her, if you are interested in carrying out this task, so that she can arrange the release of the funds of ($10,500,000.00) USD to you. My lawyer's name is Barrister Dara Touch.

Thank you and God bless you.

Mrs. Kanya Keisuke

Poetry and Pasta

My friend Betsy Clark has been taking on an ambitious project this week. She's been doing a feature at someone's house each night the past six. There's also a spaghetti dinner involved. Last night I was one of the opening acts. It was a small intimate gathering in Alexis and Jay's living room, and Sam the dog was loving on everyone. I did these poems.

This Poem Will Never Be Buzz-fed
Terra Nova Pantoum
Is Gun
All Time None of the Time
Unlatching
The Wine List of the Overlook Hotel
The Real In-flight Announcement

The Word and Spaghetti Tour concludes tonight. Congratulations in advance to Betsy for completing this project!

In other poetry news, local poet Will Evans and former local poet Hanif Willis-Abdurraquib have both made the finals of the Individual World Poetry Slam in Phoenix. Best of luck to the both of them as they compete tonight.

Practically a found poem

Is Gun

Sandwich is gun
Sweet tea is gun
Hoodie is gun
Pants at the knees is gun
Broken down car is gun
Knock on the door is gun
Broken tail light is gun
Licence plate light not working is gun
Cell phone is gun
Hands in the air is gun
Shopping in Wal Mart is gun
Standing on a street corner is gun
Not getting out of the vehicle is gun
Not showing ID is gun
Getting your ID out is gun
Saying no is gun
Saying yes is gun
Saying I do not know is gun
Saying stop is gun
Saying don’t shoot is gun
White man with gun
is second amendment

Three things I am trying to find.

Most of the time, I have mad research skills. I can find things, it is part of what I do for a living, and I'm good at it. Most of the time. There are times where I am fallible. When google fu evades me. These are the things I've been trying to research. Three things that frustrate me to no end every few months when I go back to them. These are my Holy Grails.

1) The family of Dr. Martin Couney. Cristin O'Keefe Aptowitz  got me back on this case after she gave a talk about her book last week. Couney was the doctor of the Coney Island Infantorium for many years in the early 20th century. His work was sound, and it was said he saved many premature babies. Just how many, and who they were is not exactly known. His papers have not been found, and his only family, his daughter Hildegarde, is untraceable. I'm sure she's dead, but where and when did she die. She is said to have never married and I cannot find her. I'm also a few hundred miles from some where I can find potential leads. Drives me nuts!

2) Information about my Great Uncle Edward A. Plunkett, who served in the 45th division Company A in World War 2 and was killed in action in March 1945. I received his individual death file a couple of years ago. What I'm trying to find are people alive who knew him during the war. Those chances are dying by the day, if they're not already gone. I'm in a Facebook group about the 45th, which is informative but I have hit nothing directly. There's also a strong possibility he had a child, and it's been one dead end after another.

3) Elton John, August 5th, 1982. This was a show I saw at Madison Square Garden and it was a really good concert. Been trying to find a bootleg of it, but have never found one from that specific date. I'm pretty sure it was taped because someone was playing part of the show on the train ride home after the concert. I'd also like to know if the setlist is as I remember. The link says he did The Bitch is Back after Empty Garden, I'm pretty sure it was Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. I wonder if the death crush I went with would remember?

I rotate these items, occasionally I find a small nugget, a name, an extra link to bookmark. Concrete conclusions and evidence has been hard to come by though. So I plod on, knowing that life would not be complete when I find the information, but a path for more mysteries.