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Weekend Butler: Why did he do the right thing? “Instinct.” Stanley Kubrick’s first movie. An unforgettable poem. Celery & Apple Stuffed Chicken. An ethereal song.
Published: May 11, 2022
Category:
Weekend
“BE KIND, FOR EVERYONE YOU MEET IS FIGHTING A HARD BATTLE.”
New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays. We’re watching the bleachers, because Yankee slugger Aaron Judge is at bat, and if anyone is going to hit it up here, he’s the guy.
And he does. A Toronto fan catches it. He turns immediately, and flips it to a boy who’s a Yankee fan… and, because this is the stuff of fable, an Aaron Judge fan. Watch. Later, he gets to meet Aaron Judge, who signs the ball for him.
Why did that Toronto fan so crisply turn and give the ball to the boy? “Instinct,” he said.
Instinct. Knowing what’s right for the moment, in the moment. Sometimes I trust it and act on it. More often, what happens stuns me and by the time I use my mind to figure out what to do, the moment has passed.
I spent some time conjuring scenarios on the theory that if you practice enough, you can act without thinking and own the moment. Then I saw something that surprised me. In worldly matters, step right up, be firm and clear. In personal matters, be as soft as the spring breeze.
“How bright a light there must be to cast so dark a shadow.” That’s how it feels now. A planet in pain, magnified by people who like to inflict it. For months now, I’ve had no skin, no filter. I know I’m not the only one.
I woke in the middle of the night and made a one-word note: GENTLE. I was thinking of one person, and how I might direct less of my purposeful energy and more of my kindness and empathy in her direction. In daylight, I grasped I also might direct it to my family, to my friends, and to you. Don’t pick up the rope. Watch out for “tone.” As Plato is said to have said, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” I bet he would have flipped that homer to the kid.
THE WEEKEND POEM
Jack Gilbert, “Failing and Flying”
Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.
It’s the same when love comes to an end,
or the marriage fails and people say
they knew it was a mistake, that everybody
said it would never work. That she was
old enough to know better. But anything
worth doing is worth doing badly.
Like being there by that summer ocean
on the other side of the island while
love was fading out of her, the stars
burning so extravagantly those nights that
anyone could tell you they would never last.
Every morning she was asleep in my bed
like a visitation, the gentleness in her
like antelope standing in the dawn mist.
Each afternoon I watched her coming back
through the hot stony field after swimming,
the sea light behind her and the huge sky
on the other side of that. Listened to her
while we ate lunch. How can they say
the marriage failed? Like the people who
came back from Provence (when it was Provence)
and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.
I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,
but just coming to the end of his triumph
STANLEY KUBRICK’S FIRST FILM, “THE KILLING”
I never heard of it, so I watched it, and it’s tense and well-photographed, and you don’t see the end coming. Here’s the trailer.
It’s on Amazon Prime.
CELERY AND APPLE STUFFED ROAST CHICKEN
From Lee Bailey’s Good Parties
Serves 6
2 2.5 lb. chickens
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 cup butter, softened
1 handful celery leaves
1 large cooking apple, peeled and cored
Gravy:
1 Tbsp. butter, softened
2 Tbsp. flour
1 cup chicken stock, heated
1 Tbsp. chopped chives
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Wash and dry chickens, mix salt and pepper into softened butter. Chop apple and celery leaves. Alternately stuff chickens with softened butter and apples and celery leaves. Reserve a bit of butter for tops of chickens.
Place chickens breast side up on rack in roasting pan. Smear rest of butter over chickens. Bake an hour and 15 minutes, basting occasionally. Remove chickens to warm platter.
To make gravy, mush butter and flour together to make paste. Pour fat out of roasting pan and add hot stock. Swirl around and scrape up crispy bits in pan. Thicken with the flour butter mixture and cook until thickened, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with chives.
ONE ETHEREAL SONG
“Sabali,” from Amadou and Mariam: Folila
