ViniPHIcation

Leaving Luxembourg after 2 weeks for Paris, I packed copies of ALJIBAR II — but not the case of wine from Laurent Kox’s cellars for which 6 Luxembourg poets (all published by Editions PHI, the country’s major literary press) wrote poems that were used as labels. I had not been able to come to Luxembourg last year for the original presentation of the ViniPHIcation project (see photo above), but Laurent Kox came to my reading/ presentation of the new book (see past posts) & brought me my “payment.” Unhappily I have to leave it behind in my sister’s cellar, as schlepping a dozen bottles of wine through US customs isn’t a good thing — isn’t, in fact, possible — these days. But here is my poem as it appears now on selected bottles of 2006 Pinot Blanc:

Oh, you natural clone of a
Red clone, you are a most
Sympathetic Frankenstein,
High acidity signs your dif-
Ference with ubiquitous &
Sanctimellifluous chardonnay
— You’re no poor man’s
White Burgundy, you’re de-
Lightful plum- & plump-
Ness, you’re rich, ripe, juicy
Fruity apply & balmy on any 1
Of the 365 days of the year.
You’re a sonnet in my heart
& the heart of my long sonnet
: Come, fill my glass, fill my
Mind, clone my soul with
Your heart, oh Pinot Blanc!