“all of them, a whole neighborhood of past loves.”
Are All the Break-Ups in Your Poems Real? - Aimee Nezhukumatathil | Cacique Maravilla’s Vino Naranja
The Poem
Are All the Break-Ups in Your Poems Real? - Aimee Nezhukumatathil
If by real you mean as real as a shark tooth stuck
in your heel, the wetness of a finished lollipop stick,
the surprise of a thumbtack in your purse—
then Yes, every last page is true, every nuance,
bit, and bite. Wait. I have made them up—all of them—
and when I say I am married, it means I married
all of them, a whole neighborhood of past loves.
Can you imagine the number of bouquets, how many
slices of cake? Even now, my husbands plan a great meal
for us—one chops up some parsley, one stirs a bubbling pot
on the stove. One changes the baby, and one sleeps
in a fat chair. One flips through the newspaper, another
whistles while he shaves in the shower, and every single
one of them wonders what time I am coming home.
The Beverage
Cacique Maravilla’s Vino Naranja
Woah woah woah. This wine, which is from a Moscatel de Alejandia grape, is fully bonkers. It looks like unfiltered cider and tastes like… everything? I know that is not a great description, but it’s citrusy and fruity and mineral and not sweet at the same time. It’s an orange wine, as a category and literally. Orange wines are white grapes fermented with skins on, like how rose wines are often red grapes fermented with skins on (or are sometimes white/red blends).
I recently decided to get into natural wines (low-filtered, unrefined, no additives), and a Friday night at Dio sold me. Reds that taste like dirt and fruit or are smooth patio drinkers; orange wines that taste like crisp Pinot Grigios or (as noted above) everything. They're exciting.
Few are that garnet-red or glassy-translucent that I find so appealing in conventional wine. Looking at the wines in the glass are sort of like looking at the uncut, unpolished gems at Natural History. You see the beauty in the core, and it is only magnified by the opacity or scarring -- you get to see (or taste) the reality of it, without too much interference.
I’m making my list for a little dinner party tonight, and I am seriously considering making a stop for wine that isn’t the grocery store budget section to buy a bottle or two of this one.