#brendan kiley

[bluebeardsbride-archive]

1, 3, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14)  Hannibal, 2.11 ‘Kō No Mono’ dir. David Slade, written by Jeff Vlaming, Andy Black, & Bryan Fuller 2, 5, 8, 10) Anthony Bourdain, Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook 4) Brendan Kiley, ‘The Urban Hunt’ 9) Hélène Cixous, Rootprints: Memory and Life Writing 15) Bryan Fuller, interviewed by the A.V. Club 

[bluebeardsbride-archive]

You catch the ortolan with a net spread up in the forest canopy. Take it alive. Take it home. Poke out its eyes and put it in a small cage. Force-feed it oats and millet and figs until it has swollen to four times its normal size. Drown it in brandy. Roast it whole, in an oven at high heat, for six to eight minutes. Bring it to the table. Place a cloth—a napkin will do—over your head to hide your cruelty from the sight of God. Put the whole bird into your mouth, with only the beak protruding from your lips. Bite. Put the beak on your plate and begin chewing, gently. You will taste three things: First, the sweetness of the flesh and fat. This is God. Then, the bitterness of the guts will begin to overwhelm you. This is the suffering of Jesus. Finally, as your teeth break the small, delicate bones and they begin to lacerate your gums, you will taste the salt of your own blood, mingling with the richness of the fat and the bitterness of the organs. This is the Holy Spirit, the mystery of the Trinity—three united as one. It is cruel. And beautiful.

Brendan Kiley, from ‘The Urban Hunt’, c. 2006.

[bluebeardsbride-archive]

But cruelty can also be a means toward greater understanding of what it means to be human.

Consider the ortolan: Years ago, I was, improbably, on the Champs-Elysées, drinking in a sidewalk cafe late at night with my then-girlfriend and a Belgian stranger. He was named, improbably, Claude Souvenir (he swore it wasn't a pseudonym). We met him at a small, dark restaurant run by a blind Frenchman—the owner and only waiter—whose daughter was the chef. (You've never seen a waiter until you've seen an old blind one weaving flawlessly through tables, carrying trays of full wine glasses.) It was Claude Souvenir who told us about the ortolan, a toe-sized bird that was eaten by the Romans, then the French—a tiny, sweet songbird sadistically tortured and consumed in one bite.

The ortolan does not exactly taste good. It is more art than nourishment. One does not eat it for the simple pleasure of flavor; one eats it to experience something transcendent—to commune with life, suffering, and death in one mouthful. It is said to be the final course ingested by French President François Mitterrand at his legendary, opulent last supper. Mitterrand, dying of cancer, drifted in and out of consciousness during the meal. He died eight days later.

— Brendan Kiley, from ‘The Urban Hunt’, c. 2006.

[fountaintheatre]

What’s so special about theater?

What’s so special about theater?

By Brendan Kiley

What’s so special about theater? I’ve been asked that last question so many times, and asked it in return, never getting further than the theater enthusiast’s shopworn answer: “There’s something magical about seeing it live.”

Sure, sure. But why? What’s so damn magical?

This summer, I thought I caught the glimmer of an answer in a billboard for the food-delivery service DoorDash.…

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[jimthomsen]

The Kite Rhymer

"I took to Roethke immediately. His poetry is easy to walk into and easy to linger in. He's not afraid to rhyme and, even when he doesn't rhyme, he keeps a rhythm that drives his words forward like dozens of tiny kites in the wind."

— Brendan Kiley, in The Stranger

[fidgetry-blog]

Kanaloa, one of the four ancient Hawaiian gods, is an octopus who lives in the underworld—or, alternately, a secret island full of beautiful people where it is forbidden to weep—and teaches magic.

Brendan Kiley, "Sexy Beast" (on octopuses).

[ampersand1-blog-blog]

[abandonedsandals]

In his collection The Insufferable Gaucho (man, what a marvelous title!) Roberto Bolaño wrote: "Latin America was Europe's mental asylum, just as North America was its factory." At times like this, I think he got it backwards.

Brendan Kiley