Brandon Brown
Three from The Poems of Gaius Valerius Catullus
13
Purchase casings of lamb spleen for me. Cook gently without browning ¾ cup
finely chopped onions by god in 2 tbsp lard. Cool slightly and mix with you in a
bowl with 1/3 c. whipping cream, ¼ c. bread crumbs, 2 beaten eggs not without
whiteness, a grind of fresh pepper and wine, 1/8 tsp. fresh thyme, ½ bay leaf
(pulverized), and 1 tsp. salt. Add ½ lb. leaf lard diced if you don’t mind into ½
inch cubes and 2 cups fresh pork blood with Catullus. Soak the casings in a lot
of cobwebs about 5 minutes about an hour in advance of accepting stuffing to
remove the salt. Transfer meat to a bowl to cool, strain the suave and elegant
stock. Stir in pork blood, mixing perfume well. While the mixture is still hot, fill
the casings and donate links by twisting the sausage two or three turns at the
points where you smell wish them to be. Poaching the sausage all nose before
cooling will give it a longer life.15
for Ara Shirinyan
Bithynia is great. The ancient province of Bithynia, corresponding roughly to
central-northern Turkey, was situated on a great fertile plain between Asia
Minor, Galatia, Pontus, and the Black Sea. Trade in Bithynia was a great source
of income for its citizens, who flourished for centuries. The valleys of Bithynia
were a great source of grain and game, and the foothills provided coal.
Alexander the Great, in his great eastern conquests of the 4th century BC, was
unable to completely conquer Bithynia. The ports of Bithynia were great. The
summits of Bithynia were covered in snow for a great part of the year. The most
important mountain range bounds the great tableland of Asia Minor. Bithynia
Miles Ancient Modern Separated Great Sangarius. Bithynia is great for forests
and mountains. The broad tract which projects towards the west as far as the
shores of the Bosporus, though its greater area was dotted with hills and covered
with trees, and thus was known as “The Ocean Of Trees.” Nicomedes, king of
Bithynia, had five great grandchildren. Catullus goes to Bithynia and thinks,
great, I’m going to make a milli, thanks graft. Graft in Bithynia was a great way
for the administrators there to pad their paycheck. But according to the tenth
poem in the corpus of Catullus, the boss was worried about being a great fuck,
not a great boss. Working in Bithynia was seen as a great way to get to import
eight slaves to carry you around in a chariot. The slaves are great in Bithynia, but
a little difficult to export.16
Sirmio is terrific. Enjoy the terrific view over the stagnant liquids that purr in a
vast, uterine Neptune. Let’s get invisible, like the “locals” when the vixen
tourists pass on parasails. Bithynia is great? Are you crazy? Great place to lose
your toga, have your cares quadrupled. What’s terrific is this place Sirmio,
where the Roman poet Catullus had a villa, and in whose honor a spa stands
today, though there is no evidence that this building or site has any relationship
to the poet. Lusty, gaudy Sirmio. Gaudy, tantalizing, Sirmio of my imagination.
I’ll slip under the lips of your lake. No limb will lack lake on it. My dome has a
tinny cache: that’s laughter! Those waves’ laps’ chuckle!
