THE ALPS THE ALPS

Today it is time for the Alps, the mountains - where we love to climb and hike.  Bavaria is the place where we frequently go. Not only is it inspiring but it also clears out all the big city toxins. 

Ken's poem is about the physical/sensual experience of the Alps whereas my painting is, well, the visual side of the experience.

We also include a little video of the American singer Erika Stucky who provides the audio portion of this post. She grew up in San Francisco and moved to Switzerland where her ancestors came from. She is both a jazz singer and a yodler.

Geisler Gruppe, Südtirol, Northern Italy 38 x 37,5 cm

IN THE ALPS

Every room smells like smoked meat, thick

skinned, scabby looking hams hanging from hooks

in the imagination, for you cannot see them. Only their

fragrance abides, like an elusive lover’s, just out of reach.

A girl’s voice, stubbornly archaic, climbs higher

than your aching legs have climbed this lovely day

the lyric wrapped in a mountain dialect

too dense to penetrate. Between songs she’s texting

her boy friend perhaps while a strung out cluster of cattle,

heads bobbing submissively, straggles

past the stained-glass windows of our pension. In a few moments

we will be eating one of their kin, slaughtered then

pounded into further submission by the cook, dipped in egg

and flour then dropped in sizzling fat, or dressed in onion, or draped

in white sauce stippled with peppercorns—

dead meat disguised as

Wiener Schnitzel, Rostbraten, pepper steak

is still dead meat. Our desire is itself delicious. The girl’s voice

moves through the raftered room

like a delayed echo of appetite

come back for more.

Erika Stucky does her mountain thing!