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<\/a>\n\n\n\nViewing the world through the lens of food delivers some remarkable imagery and turns of phrase. Consider: \u201cthe moon proofing like a loaf of bread,\u201d \u201cthe night melting like saut\u00e9ed onions,\u201d \u201cthe moon drifting over the earth like a chipped dinner plate.\u201d And Emilio\u2019s palette is broad: oysters, mushrooms, octopus, tamales, risotto, fennel, waffles\u2014every morsel becomes literal food for thought. And poetry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, there\u2019s plenty of bread and wine. A presumably Catholic upbringing informs many of these poems. Biblical references abound, with Jesus making numerous appearances\u2014sometimes directly, as in \u201cJesus as a Jaded Lover,\u201d sometime more obliquely, as in \u201cWhenever You Eat This.\u201d One of my favorites in this vein is \u201cFirst Food,\u201d which recasts Eve from the Garden of Eden as a randy teenager. She describes herself, with Adam,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nof night so we could finally be ourselves,
\nspeak in our native tongue, that limitless
\nlanguage of groins.\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019ve only to look at the vast diversity of life to understand that sex is a communication (no pun intended) that predates human speech, and even among humans, it\u2019s arguably the one universal language (Maybe that\u2019s why Babel had to fall?). This version of Genesis needs no serpent; Eve simply \u201cwalked to a tree called \/ \u2018No\u2019 and plucked a soft-bellied bulb \/ of fruit, nude as the moon.\u201d I love that imagery\u2014and I love how the lofty \u201cforbidden fruit\u201d is pared down to a single, palpable utterance: \u201cNo.\u201d In some examinations, the forbidden fruit represents the knowledge of good and evil; here, it\u2019s exactly what it was for all of us: unchecked carnal hormone-fueled desire. The description of tasting that fruit also hits home:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nfuck it all came and went so fast, a blur
\nof luscious flesh roaring over our lips
\nand down our chins\u2026\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
As this passage suggests, \u201chunger\u201d for Emilio is not merely the body signaling depletion, it is a visceral craving to ingest life itself, to be fully alive (by consuming what is dead). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many poems draw upon Emilio\u2019s career in food service\u2014he was evidently a waiter, and perhaps a cook. It\u2019s that perspective that allows him to look on DaVinci\u2019s \u201cLast Supper\u201d and ponder what no one else has (as far as I know): the serving staff. The painting is largely about what is to come\u2014and for most viewers, that means the betrayal, death, and resurrection of Jesus. For Emilio, it\u2019s the woman who\u2019ll have to clean up the mess after everyone leaves, just as she does every night, regardless of whether Christ comes back with a satchel of eternity. And though the Bible is mum on the subject, I\u2019d bet the disciples were not great tippers. (In fact, you have to wonder who paid for that dinner in the first place.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I tend to be somewhat withdrawn from the poetry world; still, it\u2019s slightly remarkable that Emilio and I have never met in person\u2014judging by his poetry, we must\u2019ve crossed paths, though not in real time. He has a poem dedicated to Chris Abani; he and I read together when brick-and-mortar bookstores were still a thing. There\u2019s also a poem about B.H. Fairchild at a restaurant in Riverside\u2014I once had lunch with him at a restaurant in Riverside. There are also references to San Luis Obispo, Southern California, not to mention Atlanta (though long after I spent any time there).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is heartache in this book\u2014allusions to a lover who abandoned the author, references to someone paralyzed in a tragic accident, divorced parents, bombings, anorexia\u2014but overall, the tone is ebullient, rapturous. Food is a broad and universal topic, and Emilio manages to distill it all in a feast that delights every sense, like a perfect port-wine reduction. The book is clever, too, in its assembly. It starts with a poetic amuse bouche entitled \u201cRapture,\u201d and ends with \u201cRevelation,\u201d which begins: \u201cTo begin with rapture and leave you in \/ a matter of seconds\u2026\u201d The Biblical references are totally on brand\u2014but more importantly, what a wonderful Easter Egg for the reader!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As one of my favorite philosophers wrote, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.\u201d You can take any of these approaches with Kitchen Apocrypha,<\/i> which will leave you feeling both sated and hungry for more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gregory Emilio: Kitchen Apocrypha Recently, I had the opportunity to give my first Zoom reading. It was an interesting experience. On the one hand, it was great to be able to look directly at the work I was reading, yet … Continue reading