“There this poor young man experienced that desperate poverty which is a kind of melting-pot whence great talents emerge pure and incorruptible, just as diamonds can be subjected to any kind of shock without breaking. In the violence of unleashed passions, they acquire the most unshakeable honesty, and by dint of the constant labour with which they have contained their balked appetites, they become used to the struggles which are the lot of genius.”
“The Atheist’s Mass”, Honoré de Balzac, 1836
After the revolution
Bodies strewn about roasted by the equatorial sun
Guarded by the stench
And still moist from last night’s deluge
The aroma
Of rotting flesh
Calls we bugs to the feast
Robert K. Stephen
War
Looking for Uncle Bill RCAF 1942 in the UK
Lincolnshire
Lost
In
The graveyard
I
Wonder why?
Robert K. Stephen
Aroma: One senses a firm and tight wine lacking fruit effusiveness. Pardon any reference to Gogol’s short story “The Nose” but you need to deeply nose about to detect black cherry, black currant, strawberry jam and those Peek Freen cookies with a blob of red goo in the centre. Overshadowed by oak, perhaps too much so. The good news though is that trying on day two the oak backs off somewhat and the fruit rears its head. Decant my friend for at least an hour.
Palate: The tightness continues obfuscating the fruit. Tannic. Black cherry, cranberry and faint strawberry with a short finish. Like the fruit is lurking in the background.
Personality: Extremely shy and far from a fruit flasher. Decanting transforms me from introvert status to being shy. I would like you to think of me as complex and difficult to define.
Food Match: A tomato based Bachalau would suit this wine or perhaps some of the other 299 Portuguese recipes for this dish.
Cellarbility: Could a miracle be waiting over the next five years? Perhaps. You are paying a high price for such a temporal risk.
Price: $40 CDN.
RKS 2026 Ontario Wine Rating: 84/100.
(Drea’s 2022 Small Batch Cabernet Franc, VQA Niagara Peninsula, 750 mL, 13%).
The eternal sandbox
Young and innocent
Time consuming frivolity
Equality of youth
Shattered
The dinky toyed hours
Pen and suits
Boots and hands
A mild game struggle
Children versus children
Life kept on that harmless level
Fun and simple
Lost and baffled in gaming politeness
Forgetting who the real enemies are
Robert K. Stephen
“He’s never had any real training. I just had him taught by sending him along to peddlers on the street corner. There’s no one equal to him if he wants to imitate mule-drivers or hawkers. He’s terribly clever, really. He’s a cobbler, a cook, a confectioner-a man that can turn his head to anything. But he’s got two faults; if he didn’t have them he’d be one in a million- he’s circumcised and he snores.”
“Excuse me, dear people, my inside has not been answering the call for several days now. The doctors are puzzled. But some pomegranate rind in water and resin in vinegar has dome me good. But I hope now it will be back in good behaviour. Otherwise my stomach rumbles like a bull. So if any of you wants to go out, there’s no need for him to be embarrassed. None of us were born to be solid. I think there’s nothing so tormenting as holding yourself in. This is one thing even God Almighty can’t object to. Yes laugh Fortunata, but you generally keep me up all night with this sort of thing.”
Go west young man!
Gasping
Retching
Tumble rivers of foamy beer and purplish macaroni chunks
Spilling into the pavement
Steaming in the winter’s frigidity
While its stumbling moaning creator
Wends homeward to bed and
Ready to leap like a tiger upon its unprepared toilers
Tomorrow
Robert K. Stephen
Monday (non retired version)
I lie in fear
Waiting
Praying Monday morning is but an illusion
Camouflaged amongst herds of angry zebra
Who lay traps
Of joyful Fridays
To taunt its believers
Robert K. Stephen
In the interests of productive behaviour
Motivation
Goals
Group dynamics
Profit sharing (for a selective few)
Job enrichment
Global inclusion
Endless performance appraisals
Team building
All supposedly (by the senior management team) tasty tidbits for the rank and file
Bribery for the belligerent
Soothed with technocratic brew
Psychological trickery
Blessed in the holy catacombs of management classes
Where the ambitious Dacron polyesters
Grovel at the troughs of social mobility fed by Harvard Business School priests
Sacrosanctly selling communion to the highest bidder
Of course
Robert K. Stephen
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