Open-mouthed, the baby god
Immense, bald, though baby-headed,
Cried out for the mother's dug.
The dry volcanoes cracked and split,
Sand abraded the milkless lip.
Cried then for the father's blood
Who set wasp, wolf and shark to work,
Engineered the gannet's beak.
Dry-eyed, the inveterate patriarch
Raised his men of skin and bone,
Barbs on the crown of gilded wire,
Thorns on the bloody rose-stem.
--Sylvia Plath
The Snowman
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
--Wallace Stevens
What's better than a sweet ring of fried dough? A free sweet ring of fried dough. That's right, folks, step on up to your local donut shop counter today! It's National Doughnut Day! My fav donut shop is in Manhattan on 14th St and 7th or 8th Ave. - never know which Ave. 'cuz it's always a late, intoxicated night. But inebriated or not, I know a good doughnut when I sink my teeth into one. Here it is: The Donut Pub. Go there. Krispy Kreme is giving them away today, no catch! At Dunkin', you gotta buy their world-famous coffee (whatev - consistency or otherwise, cardboard is cardboard).
This delicious holiday was officially established in 1938 by the Chicago Salvation army to raise funds during the Great Depression. During World War I, Salvation Army female volunteers known as "lassies" were on the front lines frying up doughnuts and other home-style treats for soldiers serving in France. Lt. Colonel Helen Purviance became the Salvation Army's "first doughnut girl" in 1917. So celebrate her today. Perhaps you'll be asked to donate to the Salvation Army or another needy cause. Perhaps you'll think about war and depression, and the sweet little things we do to overcome—as you down some warm dough. (Remember, the hole is not for show. It helps the doughnuts cook evenly.)
D'oh-nut facts:
Which country consumes the most doughnuts? Blame Canada. Our neighbors to the north boast more donut shops per capita than any other country. Americans consume only 10 billion of the fried rings annually.
In Italy, the donut is called fritole. In France, beignet. In Mexico, churro. Germany, krapfen. In Montenegro, ustipci. In Turkey, lokma. In India, balushai. In the Netherlands, oliebollen. In Hungary, langos.
In the U.S., all the cops in the donut shop say way oh way oh way oh way ohhhh...
The people need a poem today,
I think, because it fogs. Somewhere kids
with frog boots sop up puddles, parents inhale
under a stray light. Shadows, slow rolling, pass.
Watch the sheets immerse us, dipping in and out of
lanes and aisles, sipping and stoking, stroking the vane.
