The same way we say “Ah, Shucks!” Russians mutter “Da, Blin!” (Literally, “Yes, crepe.”) I gained insight into this phrase on a mild April evening, when I also discovered how our US cultural expectations sometimes rendered ordinary tasks like ordering dinner somewhat less than forthright. This excerpt comes from “American on Display,” the journal I kept on my first trip to the USSR in 1990 as a bilingual guide on Design USA, a cultural exchange exhibit of American life to …
Tag: mushrooms
Olfactory Report 3: The lure, the cure, the smells of the forest * Catherine Haley Epstein
Several years ago I made a scent about forgetting: forgetting your ego and the glorious connection we feel to people and things when we do this. Most scent is evocative and reminds us of things past. How about scents that explore the eternal sunshine of the spotless mind? What does forgetting smell like? My conclusion: forgetting smells like the forest. I drew the connection after years of reading the G-rated, PG-rated then grizzly versions of fairy tales, where everything transformative happens …
“Mycophagy” & Other Poems by Thomas E. Simmons
without frail gestures Her yellow parachute detached it slip-ungripped from a wrist All her olives rolled away the wet hyssop was misplaced Its minty twigs shriveled & the bullocks pointless Her matchstick-style carrots on blackened khokhloma She was three kilos high bouncing hard on a rock Puzzling at 1% and then …