Soup and Poetry

I've spent this evening on my front porch with Ophelia the cat, the fireflies, and the fog under the terrifying hum of the cicadas eating soup and reading Lorca. Here is the pantry recipe I used tonight, which turned out quite to be delicious, and one of the poems from his set of Ghazals that I read over and over. I love all eleven of them, and it was hard to choose just one to share.

Bean Soup

2 cups stock
1 big clove garlic
2 shallots
3 carrots
1 can black beans
1 cup soy beans (but I think 2 cans of black beans would be better)
handful cilantro
2 bay leaves
1 dry red chili, whole with seeds removed
zest of one lemon (but lime would be better)
salt to taste

Sautee onions and garlic. Add stock and bring to a gentle boil. Add carrots and beans and seasonings. Cook until everything is soft. Remove the bay leaves and chili and blend until smooth. I added some juice from the lemon when I served it, maybe garnish with more cilantro.


IX. Ghazal of Flight
by Federico García Lorca (transl. Catherine Brown)

I have often been lost on the sea
with my ear full of fresh-cut flowers
with my tongue full of agony and love.
Often I have been lost on the sea,
as I am lost in the heart of certain children.

There is no one who can kiss
without feeling the smile of those without faces;
there is no one who can touch
an infant and forget the immobile skulls of horses.

Because roses search the forehead
for a hard landscape of bone,
and human hands have no more sense
than to mimic roots beneath the soil.

As I am lost in the heart of certain children,
I have often been lost on the sea.
Not knowing water, I keep looking
to be consumed in luminous death.