Fall Bouquet
“El cariño que te tengo. Yo no lo puedo negar.”
Paris sun
is the glow of her cafes.
It is a dusk sun that burns in the night,
the warmth of crowds,
bright minds while shadows fall.
Cigarette ambers,
the heat of Bossanova bass
in St. Germain.
“Llego a Cueto, voy para Mayarí”
Fallen leaves of orange, gold, copper
I make a bouquet
for our house of glass love.
I fill rooms with colours
Draw before you lose them
Orange umbrellas
“¡Y ahora si quieren bailar,
búsquense otro timbalero!”
You opened my heart
with a wound of light.
There are flamenco guitars and sheeshas
on roof terraces
There are nights such as these
–filled with stars–
in Tunis or Bayreuth.
There are dancing sunrises in Ibiza
and white cabanas on Miami beaches.
There is a cafe where our traveling souls will meet
This post got me thinking about how we celebrate coffee. Coffee and culture are well suited and have been siblings for many centuries. I’m wondering why it is that contemporary culture seems to find it possible to write great songs about all manner subjects – from the ‘every day’ to the ‘obscure’ – yet I’m unable to recall a great song about coffee, only bad songs. Bad songs and terrible songs. I think coffee deserves better!
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Listen to Paco De Lucia, or Bebel Gilberto…I think this is the sound you would want for coffee, perhaps not a song per se, but a kind of wordless music….a sound that allows you to think, that does not impose its own narrative.
Cafes would not be there without coffee, we would just have stuffy tea parlours. I am very fortunate to be able to go to a Cafe that plays strictly Billie Holliday, Etta James, Chet Baker and such. The owner, Bassam, is Jordanian Palestinian and he is completely old school, he wears a gentleman’s hat and created a cafe , with its antiques clutter and wooden chairs, that takes you back to a nostalgic time and allows for thinking, writing, reading. Music plays a huge part in the creation of this ambiance, this illusion. I will have to share photos soon, he even has a gramophone! I was thinking about bringing him a CD with the soundtrack of Amelie, the music would fit and it would be a way to thank him for creating the closest thing in town to a Paris literary Cafe’.
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