RKS Literature: Death and What Lies Ahead (Françoise Sagan)

“He was dying. He knew now that he was dying. Something was tearing at his body. Meanwhile she was leaning over him, supporting him by the shoulders, and he felt the shoulder blade, ignominiously reduced to skin and bone, flinch beneath his wife’s gentle hand. Ignominy, that was what he was dying of, ignominy. Was there an illness which allowed you to die gracefully? There probably wasn’t, and mankind’s only grace, perhaps lay in that aspiration towards what lay ahead.”

Françoise Sagan, “In Extremis”, 1975.

RKS PORTHEAD ALERT: CROFT 2012 Quinta da Roeda Vintage Port

Rather strange that on my first media trip to Porto in 2014 to sample Ports throughout the Douro region on the bus for the first of five intense days of sampling my seatmate, a French advertising executive, said to me, “Port is an affordable luxury”. It is a statement that has stuck me as to both its veracity and simplicity.

Red Port is massively flavourful with a range of styles and flavour profiles. Ranging from prohibitively expensive to affordable. In twelve years I have not had an “off Port”. Having toured the quality control laboratory at the IVDP, the regulatory body that ensures quality control of Port, all Ports are analyzed and tested before their release.

Now is not the time to elaborate on the 1867 and 1932 Ports I have tried other than saying the 1867 still had life in it and could sail off in the distance for years!

Back to the Croft Port. A blackish red beauty?

Aroma: Creamy. Blackberry. Cassis. Chocolate covered raisins. Santa Rosa Plums.

Palate: Massive and far from timid it represents an “Attack of the Black Fruit”. Firm. Quite a tough baby now struggling for toddlerhood and for a full-grown adult look to 2040. Enormously long finish.

Food: Go conservative blue cheese and chocolate-based desserts. But pair this with rare grilled Portuguese Ox you may not ever want to leave Portugal. For vegetarians pair with a rich pasta sauce with a San Marzano tomato foundation e.g. Pasta a la Norma.

Price: $33CDN. 350 mL.

Comments from the Peanut Gallery: Drinkable now indeed. Give it five more years to show its entirely luxurious side. At this price affordable and a luxurious taste experience. You are paying Ryanair prices for TAP Air Portugal business class!

RKS PORTHEAD ALERT RATING: 95/100. Kim Marcus Wine Spectator 95.

(Croft 2012 Quinta da Roeda Vintage Port)

RKS Poetry Anthology (All We Get Are The Coffee Grinds): “If at First You Don’t Succeed Try Again?”

If at First You Don’t Succeed Try Again?

The Supreme leader and most of his clan met a violent demise

But the regime remains even nastier shouldered by nepo baby who lives witnessing yet another sunrise

Didn’t someone promise to perpetually escape the Middle East quagmire

Well that election promise certainly encountered a flat tire

But will it draw MAGA electoral ire?

Robert K. Stephen

RKS Poetry Anthology (All We Get Are The Coffee Grinds):”Galen Weston Jr. Did You Forget About Kraft Dinner?”

Galen Weston Jr. Did You Forget About Kraft Dinner?

What family wealth estimated at 9 billion

With all this inflation heartfelt thanks for your “concern” freezing prices on Loblaws house brands showing concern for Canadian’s COVID induced ill financial health

But please at Loblaws and your subsidiary Shoppers Drug Mart $2.99 for a box of Kraft Dinner

And $4.39 for four at competitor Metro makes you kind of a sinner

I am shopping at Metro instead of Loblaws and Shoppers just to show you I am a winner!

Sorry to make your profits a bit thinner!

Robert K. Stephen

RKS Poetry Anthology (All We Get Are The Coffee Grinds)”The Social Relevance and Contribution to Society by the Kardashian Clan”

The Social Relevance and Contribution to Society by the Kardashian Clan

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Robert K. Stephen

RKS Literature: The Gigolo at the Cattle Fair (Françoise Sagan)

“She suddenly remembered that hectic party and the first glimpse she had of Nicholas, looking miserable because old Mme Essini was talking to him t very close quarters and giggling girlishly. Nicolas was pressed up against the bar, with no hope of escape. The scene had amused her at first, then she had looked at Nicholas with increasing interest and cynical speculation. These cocktail parties were like horse fairs or cattle shows. One almost expected to see mature ladies lifting the young men’s upper lips to examine their teeth.”

Françoise Sagan, “The Gigolo”, 1975.

RKS Literature: Self Esteem of the Gigolo (Françoise Sagan)

“Not that she respected him more than the others: she kept him completely, dressed him, gave him expensive presents which he didn’t throw back in her face. He never went in for those stupid, boorish ploys the others indulged in, those sulky moods when they wanted something or felt they were the injured party in the bargain stuck between their bodies and her money-that was it, really, they felt hard done by. They would get her to buy them all manner of expensive trinkets which they didn’t even want, simply in order to restore their self-esteem. The word esteem made her laugh inwardly. It was none the less the only word for it.”

Françoise Sagan, “The Gigolo”, 1975.

RKS Literature: Indifference to Reality as One Principal Characteristic of Nationalist Thought (George Orwell)

“Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage-torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians-which does not change its moral character when it is committed by “our” side. The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.”

George Orwell, “Notes on Nationalism”, 1945.

RKS Literature: Obsession as One Principal Characteristic of Nationalist Thought (George Orwell)

“As nearly as possible, no nationalist ever thinks, talks, or writes about anything except the superiority of his own power unit. It is difficult if not impossible for any nationalist to conceal his allegiance. The smallest slur upon his own unit, or any implied praise of a rival organization, fills him with uneasiness which he can only relieve by making some sharp retort.

All nationalists consider it a duty to spread their own language to the detriment of rival languages…..”

George Orwell, “Notes on Nationalism”, 1945.

RKS Poetry Anthology (All We Get Are The Coffee Grinds): “Somewhere in the Amazonian Basin”

Somewhere in the Amazonian Basin

Nine-hundred-dollar shoes

Certainly not from factory 961in the PRC

Adorn the religious spreader

Words as thick as peanut butter

Sticky

Difficult for the anyone to digest

Bring God to the dispossessed Amazonian indigenous in some squalid drug and crime ridden town

The great resurrection of Elmer Gantry

Gathering souls in the Christian pantry

Hot breathed babblers

Exploiting and “saving” the miserable

A Joan of Arc messianic mission to oust the devil into retreat

A Veritable Billy Graham feat!

Robert K. Stephen