Tempus Stato (Time Stands)

I wrote this in 1997 for the San Francisco Slow Food Society. Like all of my poetry it is designed to be read aloud.

TEMPUS STATO

On Olympus Epicurius
We'd live outside of time,
Where hastiness is mortal sin,
And gulping... is a crime.

T'would be... could we,
Dine... at geologic pace,
Every bite an eon savored,
An epoch... every taste.

Whole lands before us would appear
To be eroded piece-by-piece,
'Til at last with sourdough,
We sop up the very least.

Without sorrow... without pity,
We'd laugh at those below,
Who barely stop to breathe... less eat,
As they scurry to and fro.

Every sip of wine... millenia,
A century, 'tween each plate.
T'would it be, should we,
To dine... at glacial rate.

Like Culinary Colossae,
We'll live outside of time,
Where every pleasure lasts a day
And impatience... is a crime.

5 October 1997

Dedicated to Arthur Bierman, friend, advisor, employer, and the coolest landlord ever.

Richie Havens at Woodstock (Freedom)

Click the title above to see video

This is the first time I've tried to imbed or attach a video here.

In honor of the people of Egypt I give you Richie Havens' Freedom from Woodstock:

Hi, Welcome to San Francisco. My name is Stan and I'll be your angel today.

I was coming back on Haight St from the hardware store and in the bus stop at Clayton Street I saw two young women pulling a spare tire and a jack out of the car from beneath a surfeit of luggage.

My first thought was, "They're young, modern, probably have it under control. They might be insulted if I offer to help..."

But then I thought, "Ah, what the hell... I'll just check."

I went back and asked if they had it under control and they told me, with lovely Aussie accents, that it was a 'car hire' that they were about to call the company because they didn't have a jack handle.

Looking at the jack I could see that the handle was there, attached to the jack by pressure and by loosening the jack I was able to get it free.

(I don't think I've changed a tire in more than 20 years but it's not like it has changed)

Changing the front left tire had me sitting in the traffic lane at the beginning of the bus stop and so I appreciated their standing next to me as living traffic cones and preventing my getting squashed by one of the many MUNI buses that honked at me.

Of course, while I worked quite a number of my neighbors passed by, many remarking that it was 'such a Stan thing to do'.

So how's this for your first impression of San Francisco:

You leave Boston this morning where there's 2 feet of snow.

You arrive at SFO where it's about 75F and very sunny, rent a 'car hire', declining the fee for the road side service, drive into the City to check out the fabled Haight Ashbury, and almost immediately you get a flat tire.

Bummer, right?

But then a random stranger stops by, changes your tire, and sends you down to Oak Street and off to Sacramento.

I love the idea that I may have passed along a little of the San Francisco magic that makes me love this town.