When my vegetarian child is ill, his one concession & only request is homemade chicken stock, so long as it has “no chickens in it.”  This makes for tedious straining, but results in a clear mass of liquid gold.

Here’s how it goes:

Maybe you have a ziploc bag in the freezer, full of chicken bones & carcasses from previous roasts & dinners, because you have inherited your Lithuanian grandmother’s Depression-baby tendencies & save bones (see also: rubber bands, aluminum foil, sugar packets).  If so, take them out of the freezer, rinse, & toss them in a good, tall pot.  You should have at least 2-3 carcasses/4 pounds of bones & bits.

Or

You’ve already exhausted all but one freezer-carcass, but the supermarket has roast chickens on sale.  Buy two.  Let them cool, strip the meat & reserve in a tupperware for later.  All the bones & bits go in a tall pot, with the freezer carcass/bones.  Consider adding wing tips (good) or a few chicken feet (better — & these days, you can find them anywhere from Asian markets to Whole Foods); both are rich in collagen & will result in a velvety, rich broth.  Add cold, filtered water, enough to cover everything by an inch or two.

who’s post-coherent now?

§

Croup is a spasm or swelling of the larynx, which usually comes
on during the night.  The cough is a barking one— then
suddenly the child finds it difficult to draw air into the lungs, &
not only becomes frightened himself, but alarms everyone near, as
he appears to be choking.  It helps him to relax if you act calmly,
even though you are frightened.  Hum a tune or sing a song.  If
you have no croup kettle, pick up a newspaper, two safety pins, the
child’s shirt, one of your long stockings, an umbrella, & the child,
& proceed at once to the kitchen.  Make a long spout funnel of
the newspaper (rolling it from one corner to another), then pin it
over the spout of a boiling teakettle.  Wet the shirt in warm
water, put it around the child’s neck, & hold it in place by folding
your stocking under his chin & tying it over his head.  Now bring
the kitchen table near the stove, with its teakettle & newspaper
spout which points over the table.  Sit on the table.  Hold the
child in your lap & open the umbrella over you both.  You have
thus improvised a croup tent.

§

Who doesn’t want a Least Weasel?

Come over, come over, won’t you?

http://www.propolispress.com/leastweasel/

Featuring new work by dozens of lovelies, including: William Allegrezza, Juliet Cook,  Arielle Guy, Jen Hofer, Mark  Lamoureux, & Kaia Sand, (& a collaborative pas de deux between me & Kirsten Kaschock).  Go.  Read.

You can listen or download files here. You can also find audio recordings of other Philadelphia poetry readings & performances on his site, Recorded Verse of Philadelphia.

Thank you, Greg!

CA Conrad
Ryan Eckes
Ish Klein
Pattie McCarthy
Chris McCreary
Jenn McCreary
Frank Sherlock
Kevin Varrone

Listen here.

Gone beyond becoming, we filled
the house with phantoms & called
up monsters from the deep.

Buried the dagger, illuminated
the windows. Choked
the blinded alley with most
exquisite filigreed leaf
& vine. Making sense
of another dark night, I’m learning
to unwait.

It was time as a color, or my
life, in miniature.

It was sunrise & my feet got wet
in the dew. It was all the moon
did, it was my hair, full
of secrets.

A pocketful of frogs, the girl who
gave birth to rabbits, the happiest
crocodile, & party hats for all.

Chris McCreary‘s book of poems, Undone : A Fakebook, is new from Furniture Press. According to Garrett Caples, “McCreary brings a tender swagger to his line, from popsong semiotics to lyric sequence to the mysterious ‘The Black Book’ mirroring the urban poet’s soul.”

Christian TeBordo‘s book of short fiction, The Awful Possibilities, is just out from Featherproof Books. George Saunders says, “Christian TeBordo shows that it is possible to be, simultaneously, a wise old soul and a crazed young terror.”

Saturday, June 5, 2010
7:00pm – 9:00pm
B2 Cafe
1500 E. Passyunk Avenue, Philadelphia, PA

There will be readings by both authors, & there will be free snacks & wine &/or beer. A good time shall be had.