Monday November 15, 2010 7-9 pm
Friendship Heights Village Center
4433 South Park Avenue
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
Featured are Barbara Goldberg and David Salner
GOURMAND’S PRAYERYellowtail snapper with citrus beurre blanc, filet
mignon in demi-glace cabernet, roast duck
garnished with mint-jellied peaches, angels
on horseback (dates stuffed with garlic cloves
wrapped in bacon and served in a hot honey-
pepper sauce), bananas foster, key lime pie,
dense, flourless chocolate cake drizzled
with a raspberry coulis, Lord, grant me the power
to well digest all that I have well eaten.
mignon in demi-glace cabernet, roast duck
garnished with mint-jellied peaches, angels
on horseback (dates stuffed with garlic cloves
wrapped in bacon and served in a hot honey-
pepper sauce), bananas foster, key lime pie,
dense, flourless chocolate cake drizzled
with a raspberry coulis, Lord, grant me the power
to well digest all that I have well eaten.
Barbara Goldberg
____
From The Royal Baker’s Daughter
SIX NAKED NIGHTS
The story of Julia and Jerome
is set in a nudist resort, all-inclusive, but
it's not about sex, or even love. It's about -
well, I should begin at the beginning,
the pool-side lounge. After the first drink,
Jerome goes back for a tray of Margaritas,
while Julia waits, thirsty to continue
the discussion about Jacksons
Browne and Pollack, Robespierre -
you know, let's-get-acquainted fare.
Their eyes have begun to develop
the habit of meeting each other in deep
stares that have some sexual content, surely,
the same as if they were wearing clothes.
Happy hour makes way for dinner,
Margaritas to red wine, after-dinner liquor,
and, "No thanks," to desert and coffee.
They pick their way through the darkness,
a little tipsy, and arrive at Julia's door
for an embarrassed moment, before
she says "come in" and uses a plastic card
attached to a lanyard, to unlock her room.
All of the guests wear plastic cards
swaying from their necks and nothing else.
She turns on the light before pulling the lanyard
up over her head and tossing it on a chair
as if it were her last undergarment. She offers Jerome
the other chair and stands before him, opening
a book of poems she has written, published
by a small but respectable firm. He sighs
as the words draw him into a world
of invention, where no one wears clothes
or dies.
David Salner
David Salner is author of John Henry's Partner Speaks.
____
From The Royal Baker’s Daughter
SIX NAKED NIGHTS
The story of Julia and Jerome
is set in a nudist resort, all-inclusive, but
it's not about sex, or even love. It's about -
well, I should begin at the beginning,
the pool-side lounge. After the first drink,
Jerome goes back for a tray of Margaritas,
while Julia waits, thirsty to continue
the discussion about Jacksons
Browne and Pollack, Robespierre -
you know, let's-get-acquainted fare.
Their eyes have begun to develop
the habit of meeting each other in deep
stares that have some sexual content, surely,
the same as if they were wearing clothes.
Happy hour makes way for dinner,
Margaritas to red wine, after-dinner liquor,
and, "No thanks," to desert and coffee.
They pick their way through the darkness,
a little tipsy, and arrive at Julia's door
for an embarrassed moment, before
she says "come in" and uses a plastic card
attached to a lanyard, to unlock her room.
All of the guests wear plastic cards
swaying from their necks and nothing else.
She turns on the light before pulling the lanyard
up over her head and tossing it on a chair
as if it were her last undergarment. She offers Jerome
the other chair and stands before him, opening
a book of poems she has written, published
by a small but respectable firm. He sighs
as the words draw him into a world
of invention, where no one wears clothes
or dies.
David Salner
David Salner is author of John Henry's Partner Speaks.
