A Good Week for a Birthday

1

As a Gemini in good standingI divide everything in twocannot conceive of Adam without Evedividing Eden between themfor one full dayin Ithaca in the sun and then to bedthe bed we made of wood from an olive tree

2

There is nothing like a damea martinithe last at-bat of the first game of the 1988 World Seriesa martini with a dozen raw oystersa jug of water for the geraniums on a day of full suna jointa bedroom farcea weekend in a swank hotel in Montreala day without newsdying in your sleep

3

What do you want to do on your birthdayWell, I have to file my column, run two errands,empty two boxes of books, shelve themwrite a poem or revise an old one worry thatI write too much decide not to worry enjoyLinda Ronstadt singing "Frenesi" in SpanishIt's my birthday and I can fly if I want tohigh if I want to join me the sun is cooperatingand there's time for a swimbefore cocktails and steak on the terrace

4

My drink of the summer owes its originsto the evening at Café Loup with Terrance Hayeswho drinks only tequila because tequila alonegives him no hangover and Vinny suggested palomasgrapefruit and tequila and I took that formulaadded a splash of Cointreau two splashesof Giffard grapefruit liqueur three squirts of limea lot of ice and shook it in a pickle jar (bestshaker there is) topping it off with club sodaor grapefruit soda in the movie of my lifeI play the bartender hero who listensto everyone's troubles and woesPeople ask me how I'm doing and I say"I'm livin' the dream," a reliable laugh line

5

Is Berlioz the Baudelaire of French musicthe two geniuses linked by opiumtake the "Symphonie Fantastique"five movements one hour longso it's on the car radio when we arriveand it's still on when we returnafter forty-five minutes of testimonyfrom the wise man in the wheelchair whowondered who had it worsethe heroin addicts or the meth-headsthe meth kills you fasteryou can live longer on heroinand suffer more

6

What would I choose as my theme musicif I were the classical music disc jockeymaybe Bernstein's overture to Candideor Louis Moreau Gottschalk's "Cakewalk"or Schubert's overture to "Rosamunde"in honor of John ScheuerI have my Tolstoy to look forward toand if music can stand for peace (the food of love)today's poem is a little tribute to the novelsummarized TV Guide-style:Pierre loves Natasha and Napoleon invades Russia.

7

A beautiful dayWhy don't we get married, I sayWe are married, Stacey saysI know but we can pretendTo be you and meTwenty years agoJust for the hell of itMaybe we can even go to BermudaAnd tell people we're on our honeymoonAnd be believed

(June 9–15, 2018)