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Brennan
3 days ago3 min read
My dog died.
*Note: Aubrey passed away on 5 September 2024. It has taken me this long to be able to write about it. To most of those who knew her, she...
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Brennan
Aug 222 min read
When You Ain't Never Been Nowhere
she took a drag from her cigarette and rubbed her arthritic elbows knobby and protruding like cypress knees bruises and dried blood spots...
16 views0 comments
Brennan
Apr 141 min read
This opinion is error.
This erasure poem derives from the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization,...
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Brennan
Apr 102 min read
God's Country
usually when you see jokers that look like that, they done something to get like that, he posits, wisdom outstripping appearances as he...
23 views0 comments
Brennan
Mar 302 min read
Savor: Poems for the Tongue Update (30 March 2024)
Hey folks! Savor: Poems for the Tongue (previously posted about here, here, and here) is one month from publication! Forthcoming from...
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Brennan
Mar 252 min read
Omaha
paradoxically, deafening quiet and silent bedlam a cacophonous nothingness the explosions felt more than heard soaked from chest-down in...
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Brennan
Jun 21, 20234 min read
A Tasting of New York Wines
Recently, I was asked to curate and lead a wine tasting for a group of friends, most of whom are alumni of the small Virginia liberal...
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Brennan
Mar 20, 20231 min read
Building a cellar.
Over the last fifteen months or so, I have begun accumulating some wine to set down for a bit. These are wines that are interesting to...
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Brennan
Sep 2, 20223 min read
An Austrian Trio to Toast the End of Summer
When you think of summer wine, the natural instinct is to drift to rosé. There's just something beautiful about the crisp acidity and...
53 views0 comments
Brennan
Feb 11, 20225 min read
John the Divine
Downtown 4 train, between Grand Central and 14th Street-Union Square*. 9:09a. * For those of you who don't know, the 4/5 train stops...
54 views0 comments
Brennan
Jan 26, 20222 min read
Once more 'round the sun, 'twixt Earth and sky
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying. The glorious...
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Brennan
Jan 19, 20223 min read
Recent reading
This is just a quick note to recommend what I've been reading lately. First, I recently finished The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a...
33 views1 comment
Brennan
Jan 3, 20222 min read
Another day. Another dollar.
Wall Street Station (4/5). 9:04a. A decision was made here, I thought. The fake fingernails sparkled with glitter against the damp...
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Brennan
Jan 3, 20224 min read
New Year's Resolutions
This year, I'm making my resolutions public. I think it will help with accountability. Each of these is couched in terms of an...
28 views0 comments
Brennan
Dec 6, 20213 min read
Yuletide Grand Central Melancholy
The 7 train platform was an inverse Red Sea--or confirmation that I am, as grudgingly suspected, not Moses--as the listless, shambling...
42 views0 comments
Brennan
Nov 1, 20211 min read
Savor: Poems for the Tongue Update
Hi everyone - I wanted to let you know that big things are happening on the food poetry anthology front. Submissions are officially...
150 views1 comment
Brennan
Oct 13, 202112 min read
A Promise Kept
On Saturday, September 12, 2021, I kept a promise I made several years ago. I woke up early, about 6:00am, and quietly got ready, trying...
64 views0 comments
Brennan
Sep 7, 20211 min read
Last Call for Submissions
LAST CALL: FOOD POETRY SUBMISSION Friendly City Books is now accepting submissions for inclusion in a forthcoming anthology of food...
11 views0 comments
Brennan
Jul 11, 20214 min read
GWW - Notebook #8: Galatoire's in Two Voices
Assignment: Write two pieces about a food experience--one for publication, the other for a friend. Galatoire's Restaurant is one of the...
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Brennan
Jul 11, 20218 min read
GWW - Booth #2: A Trio of Food Poems
In the Booth, we submit work for evaluation and critique by our classmates, as well as the instructor. The classmates' comments appear...
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Brennan
Jul 11, 20211 min read
GWW - Notebook #7: The Caramel Cake from Buck's One-Stop
Assignment: Describe a unique food in five sentence. The outer shell of the caramel cake from Buck's One-Stop was more armor plate than...
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Brennan
Jul 11, 20213 min read
GWW - Notebook #6: Trying Xi'an Famous Foods's Spicy Cumin Lamb with Noodles Kit
Assignment: Prepare some food. Or visit an interesting food related place, perhaps a shop or dining establishment. Then, write a blog...
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Brennan
Jun 12, 20213 min read
GWW - Notebook #5: Chez Oskar Review
Assignment: Review a restaurant. *Readers will note that this is the same review of Chez Oskar which was published here. I re-post it...
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Brennan
Jun 12, 20212 min read
GWW - Notebook #4: Gumbo Recipe Introduction
Assignment: Think of a recipe you really like, yours or someone else’s. Write a prelude to the recipe. It can be contextual, personal, or...
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Brennan
Apr 20, 202118 min read
GWW - Booth #1: Ears, Smokes, and the Ghosts of Farish Street
In the Booth, we submit work for evaluation and critique by our classmates, as well as the instructor. The classmates' comments appear...
11 views0 comments
Brennan
Apr 20, 20213 min read
GWW - Notebook #3: Various Angles and a Nut Graf on the Best Pizza in Mississippi
Assignment: Come up with three angles for three different food-related feature articles. In addition…come up with three angles for three...
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Brennan
Apr 20, 20213 min read
GWW - Notebook #2: My Great-Grandmother's Cheesecake (A Memoir)
Assignment: Write a short memoir about one of the following types of food experiences: A meal or some kind of food in your childhood, or...
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Brennan
Apr 5, 20211 min read
Open Call for Food Poetry Submissions! Details in post.
Open Call: Food Poetry Submissions. Friendly City Books is now accepting submissions for inclusion in a forthcoming anthology of food...
34 views0 comments
Brennan
Apr 2, 20213 min read
GWW - Notebook #1: Angles and My Brother's Green Papaya Curry (A Proud Memoir)
As I mentioned in the previous post, I'm going to be posting my work and the feedback I got in my food writing class. If you have any...
13 views0 comments
Brennan
Mar 22, 20211 min read
Gotham Writers Workshop Assignments
I find the work I'm doing in the Gotham Writers Workshop Food Writing I course to be interesting, and in the dual interests of...
12 views0 comments
Brennan
Mar 17, 20215 min read
It has only been a year. Just one year.
One year ago and fifteen days ago, I walked out of my office in midtown Manhattan, got a ride back to my Bed-Stuy apartment, grabbed my...
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Brennan
Feb 27, 20211 min read
Blog Functionality
It has been brought to my attention that subscribers have not been getting updates when I post new content. After a short while trying to...
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Brennan
Feb 24, 20211 min read
Sauce Piquant and White Gardenias
wooden spoon tapping on the rim of the dutch oven sharp raps in time to the aching, self-destructive nihilism of Justin Townes Earle...
52 views0 comments
Brennan
Feb 17, 20217 min read
Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.
I realize that it has been months since my last pithy missive. I have been aching to write again, and I have been writing - just not...
72 views0 comments
Brennan
Sep 8, 20201 min read
The List (Redux)
Hi all - I have been compiling a list of all of the places in NYC where I've eaten or drunk. This was a blog post that I regularly...
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Brennan
Jun 25, 20201 min read
A Single Yellow Onion
if i had to give You the tangible metaphorical representation of my love it would be a single yellow onion unsophisticated and coarse,...
83 views0 comments
Brennan
Jun 24, 202023 min read
At Mimi and Pa's House
At Mimi and Pa’s house, an overstuffed cat sits in the empty Sweet Louisiana Strawberries box, a relic from an earlier pilgrimage to the...
76 views0 comments
Brennan
Jun 24, 20206 min read
A Few Words
Declan Reed took a deep breath and stood, fumbled with the top button of his suit jacket, and reached into his breast pocket for a...
29 views0 comments
Brennan
Jun 24, 20207 min read
Ears, Smokes, and the Ghosts of Farish Street
Salivating like one of Pavlov’s dogs, I’m frustratedly enduring olfactory hallucinations as I begin the short drive to the promised land....
58 views0 comments
Brennan
Nov 30, 20191 min read
Chez Oskar
For Edible Brooklyn, I shine the spotlight on my neighborhood's funky little French bistro and its accidental owner....
48 views0 comments
Brennan
Nov 30, 20193 min read
The Move, Part II: Andy Warhol's Fever Dream Apartment
Having slaked my hunger for both breakfast burritos and nostalgia with the goods purveyed by the good folks at Sheetz, we proceeded...
86 views0 comments
Brennan
Oct 23, 20191 min read
Doc's Cake Shop
For Edible Brooklyn, I introduced readers to my neighborhood dessert shop and its fantastic German Chocolate Cake and banana pudding. You...
45 views0 comments
Brennan
Oct 17, 20192 min read
The Move, Part I: 1300 Miles and a Life’s Worth of Fear
“I want my, I want my, I want my EMTEEVEE,” my falsetto squeal strained to match Dire Straits’ background singers as I changed lanes in...
61 views0 comments
Brennan
Aug 8, 20191 min read
Quick update
BLUF: There will be a longer update soon about moving to Brooklyn. I’ll post it once I get settled in and finish writing it. As you may...
83 views0 comments
Brennan
Jul 25, 20191 min read
Promotion and development
A couple of points: (1) As this develops, I will be transitioning this blog from a wixsite-hosted site to an independent domain. It's...
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Brennan
Jul 25, 20194 min read
No Smoking
I have a 9:00 hearing on a procedural matter in the administration of an estate in the next county over. This county is one of the most...
39 views0 comments
Brennan
Jul 23, 20191 min read
My Daddy's Gumbo
my daddy’s gumbo is magic the cauldron from which it gurgles and steams Jekyll-and-Hyde in its duality crusty-rough on the outside...
101 views0 comments
Brennan
Jul 23, 20191 min read
Getting cranked up
Hey y'all. My name is Brennan. Having decided to move to New York with my wife and dogs to pursue career changes for both of us, I am now...
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