Happy Thanksgiving!
A Menu Poem by Geoffrey Gatza
Write Your Name in Gold

IntroductionIntroduction

Hello and welcome to the 2023 Thanksgiving Menu-Poem. This is the twenty-second incarnation of the Thanksgiving Menu-Poem! This series began in 2002 with a Menu-Poem to honor Charles Bernstein, and since then this series engages Thanksgiving as the basis to celebrate poetry, poets, and the poetry community. Being a trained professional chef, I have blended my love of food and poetry into a book-length work as a feast of words and art to bring everyone a tiny bit closer together.

This project is a conceptual meal served for the thousands of friends I would love to have over to our home on Thanksgiving Day. Since it is unavoidably impossible to even consider doing such a thing in real life, I have designed a menu of foodstuffs that reflect upon the guest of honor as a person, a poet and their poetry. These works directly respond to our surrounding environment and use everyday experiences as a starting point. Often these are framed instances that would go unnoticed in their original context. With a conceptual approach, this menu-poem tries to increase the dynamic between audience and author by objectifying emotions and investigating the duality that develops through different interpretations.

Rockets, Geoffrey

Thanksgiving Menu-Poem
Write Your Name in Gold

Elements of Minimalism

Typography

Scallop Mousseline, Royal Osetra Caviar, Nori Blini

Pear Cider, Eric Bordelet, Poirè Granit, Normandy, France 2021

We Should All Be Pooping Champagne
[Collage Art]

Color

Charred Octopus, Heart of Palm Gratin, Meyer Lemon Emulsion

Banker’s Blend, Blackduck Cidery, Finger Lakes, NY, USA 2022

My Head is a lemon, To Stare is Human, An Apple in my Mind
[Collage Poems]

Simplicity

Hibiscus Salad, Herbs, Ginger, Lime, Orange, Black Garlic Vinaigrette

Goldrush, Blackduck Cidery, Finger Lakes, NY, USA 2022

Question Mark, Boook, Bunnny, Fish flying in the raw wind, Magic Fish in the Street
[Calligraphic Art]

Negative space / White space

Sauvignon Blanc Grape Sorbet, Black Sesame Chantilly

Redfield, Blackduck Cidery, Finger Lakes, NY, USA 2022

Suppose they’ve known all along, Typoglycmia, Unfollow, Let’s Eat Fire,
Nothing to Say, Learn More, Bad News, Lilacs Blooming,
Rabbit in the Moonlight, Rain still a cloud
[Collage Poems]

Hierarchy

Crisp Roast Duck, Five-Spice Chanterelles with Quince
Chestnut Risotto, Yuzu Syrup

Spi vs. Spy Blackduck Cidery, Finger Lakes, NY, USA 2021

One through Ten
[Text Art]

Contrast

Hamachi-Flying Fish Roe, Preserved Lemon,
Apple Roulade Roquefort Crème Fraîche

Three Bears Pome Blackduck Cidery, Finger Lakes, NY, USA 2021

Silver & Gold
[Calligraphic Art]

Texture

Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Génoise Sponge,
Walnut Praliné, Chocolate Cayenne Bavarois

Tokaji, Szamorodni, Lenkey Pincészet Tokaj, Hungary, 2017

Disappointment Apples
[poem poem]

Thanksgiving Menu Poem 2023 by BlazeVOX [books] on Scribd

The Menu, Wines, Poem

The menu

The structure of the menu takes the form of the basic elements of minimalism (Typography, Color, Simplicity, Negative space / White space, Hierarchy, Contrast, and Texture). Starting with Typography to convey atmosphere and mood, then we look at Color to convey movement and mood, which is downplayed in the next course, Simplicity. Negative space / White space offers a break on the palate, which opens up the main course, Hierarchy. We come down from the main course with Contrast, where each item bounces between favors. And we end on different types of food materials and techniques used to achieve varying textures. The autumnal season brings variety of senses to mind, and with it a colorful, artful designs. The meal captures these through aroma, temperature variations, mixed textures and flavor combinations that greet you with a serene, elegant scenery of nature. This thanksgiving feast is complemented by seasonally selected foodstuffs that not only taste well-balanced but are also pleasant to think about.

The wines and beverages

Apples appear as a minor theme in this menu-poem. Even though we start the meal off with a collage of a Premier Cru champagne from Dom Pérignon it is only made of paper.        The first wine is a Pear Cider from Eric Bordelet paired with Scallop Mousseline. This Normandy cider is very exciting, with complex and electric deep pear and apple flavors and a tartness that tingles on the tongue. Next up is a compelling series of ciders from Blackduck Cidery, located in Finger Lakes, NY.

Banker’s Blend, Blackduck Cidery, Finger Lakes, NY, USA 2022

Goldrush, Blackduck Cidery, Finger Lakes, NY, USA 2022

Redfield, Blackduck Cidery, Finger Lakes, NY, USA 2022

Spi vs. Spy Blackduck Cidery, Finger Lakes, NY, USA 2021

Three Bears Pome Blackduck Cidery, Finger Lakes, NY, USA 2021

These five ciders are a perfect accompaniment to each dish, with a fragrant nose and a floral aroma, tastes of crisp dry apple, lemon, pear, apricot, and pepper on the palate. These are a powerful, balanced ciders and are very enjoyable.

And we finish the meal with a delightful Tokaji from Hungary. Tokaji is a late harvest wine with noble rot. It is sweet with a fresh peach, honey, and strong botrytis notes. It has a medium amber color with a nose of orange peel, figs, cinnamon and tastes of honey in mouth. It is not too heavy and very smooth.

The poetry

This series consists of eight sets of poetries, comprising mostly of Collage poems, and one poem poem, titled, Disappointment Apples, which is the title poem for a new book of mine coming out from ILR next year.

The Collage Poems are a combination of language and visual imagery constructed with watercolor paper, paints, inks, and various media for the text. The pieces are mostly 16 x 20 inches, while others are smaller and some larger.

The pieces combine many styles: blending surrealism with calligraphy, adding an additional letter to common words, and short texts on textured grounding. The main series, One through Ten, consists of eleven unassuming color field works emphasizing line, color, and simplicity. The poems address this season of change as an exploration of the cycles between thoughts of memory and the thoughts of experience, these poems delve into the tradition of remembrance as art, as an act of meditation. They question the conditions of appearance of an image in the context of contemporary visual culture in which images, representations and ideas normally function. By experimenting with handwriting and textual processes, these collages generate multiple meanings. Associations and meanings collide. Space becomes time and language becomes image.

These art pieces focus on the instability of communication which is used to visualize reality, the attempt of dialogue, the dissonance between form and content and the dysfunctions of language. In short, the lack of clear references are key elements in the work. By exploring the concept of collage in a reflective way, these pieces investigate the dynamics of language, including the manipulation of its effects and the limits of spectacle based on our assumptions of what the imagery and texts means to us. Rather than presenting a factual reality, an illusion is fabricated to conjure the realms of our imagination.

I hope you enjoy this meal, the menu, the collages, and the poems. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Notes:

An Apple in my Mind, 2023, Mixed Media Collage, 16 x 24

Bad News, 2023, Mixed Media Collage, 16 x 20

Boook, 2023, Mixed Media Calligraphy, 16 x 20

Bunnny, 2023, Mixed Media Calligraphy, 16 x 20

Disappointment Apples, Poem by Geoffrey Gatza

Fish flying in the raw wind, 2023, Mixed Media Calligraphy, 11 x 14

Four Legged M, for Aram, 2023, Mixed Media Collage, 16 x 15

Gold & Silver, 2023, Mixed Media Calligraphy, 16 x 20

Learn More, 2023, Mixed Media Collage, 16 x 20

Let’s Eat Fire, 2023, Mixed Media Collage, 5.5 x 11

Lilacs Blooming, 2023, Mixed Media Collage, 16 x 20

Magic Fish in the Street, 2023, Mixed Media Calligraphy, 11 x 14

My Head is a lemon, 2023, Mixed Media Collage, 16 x 20

Nothing to Say, 2023, Mixed Media Collage, 11 x 14

One through Ten, After Aram Saroyan, 2023, Mixed Media Collage, Series of 11, 16 x 20

Question Mark, 2023, Mixed Media Calligraphy, 16 x 20

Rabbit in the Moonlight, 2023, Mixed Media Collage, 16 x 20

Rain still a cloud, 2023, Mixed Media Collage, 16 x 20

Suppose they’ve known all along, 2023, Mixed Media Collage, 11 x 14

To Stare is Human, 2023, Mixed Media Collage, 16 x 24

Typoglycmia, 2023, Mixed Media Collage, 11 x 14

Unfollow, 2023, Mixed Media Collage, 11 x 14

We Should All be Pooping Champagne, 2023, Mixed Media Collage, 9.5 x 27.5

Nota Bene: If you have read this far down the page, you are probably looking to see who this year’s guest-of-honor is. Well, I tried to make it happen, but the poet who was asked responded to being this year’s guest-of-honor with the minimal response, ‘This is not for me.’