May 19, 2020
Well, I know what I’m doing today: waiting around watching my mailbox, sidewalk, and street for the postal person who today is supposedly delivering to me the new book of poems by Ed Skoog, called Travelers Leaving for the City. At least, I was told it would arrive today, when I ordered it. Hopefully you are doing the same thing – unless you’re lucky enough that your copy has already been delivered? – but if you aren’t, then for gosh sakes make your life better by ordering now. If, by some strange and cruel twist of fate, you aren’t already acquainted with Skoog (feels that should be all-capped, SKOOG, but I’m resisting. Or not), then let me tell you, not only is he a genius poet and writer, but also a champ banjo player, snappy dresser, fleet-footed dancer, and more, but also one of the swellest bar companions you could ever desire. While I’m waiting to spend many hours devouring his newest, I thought I’d ramp up my synapses by re-reading one of his poems from In Their Cups: An Anthology of Poems About Drinking Places, Drinks, and Drinkers. He has two poems in there – both awesome – as well as a few translations (also awesome), which he can do cause he is, as mentioned, a genius. In the feeling of community, I felt you also might want to read a snatch of Skoog if your copy of the latest hasn’t shown, and so here we are with the below.
The Last Saturn Bar Poem
Around the art barn, Mike Frolich’s bar-tab
bartered paintings hang the hell that rose with him
from the Gulf of Mexico floor too fast, torturing
blood with air: maniac fish, demon in a diving bell,
and then from cadmium sunset through marsh comes
the boat bearing forward in grand roving the name
O’Neal, our bartender. Theirs are the dreams we enter,
entering the Saturn Bar’s owly heat re-tooled for unlovely
loss, the rattled corner leaning away from Chartreuse, neat,
and when I’m able to dream jukebox damaged warbling,
a Saturn-like-thing opens within me, but this is the last
Saturn Bar poem–I’ll try, I’ll try–to stop singing
shadows of St. Claude and Clouet on security camera
pavement grays we keep talking about with increasing
reluctance, ready to move on to fresh bewilderments,
spiraling neon, neon that lights up my nameless shot.
–The Last Saturn Bar Poem, Ed Skoog
Tags: Bars, Chartreuse, Cocktail Talk, drinking poet, Ed Skoog, Saturn Bar, the genius Ed Skoog, The Last Saturn Bar Poem
Posted in: Bars, cocktail poem, Cocktail Talk, Ed Skoog, Iron Bartender, Liqueurs
November 5, 2019
What’s that I hear? It’s the sound of shakers and glasses and sipping oh my, all from pieces written by me for the mightily mighty Seattle magazine. While I know you (yes you) have probably read most of these already, I know it’s rather busy, what with the hustling and bustling, so just on the off chance, check out the below:
October 8, 2019
The Old Fashioned – so tasty. But, sometimes a wee bit overlooked today. Not by your normal drinker, but by (a bit, I think) those who maybe talk a lot or write a lot about drinks, as focus sits more maybe on drinks with lots of ingredients and such. Not all the time! A little, though. Anyway, all of this is to say, I was super happy to be able to write about some awesome Old Fashioneds recently, made in the awesome city of Seattle (best bartenders in the world!), for the also awesome Seattle magazine. If you missed it, check out my Seattle Old Fashioneds article, and then go have one. Or have one while you read! What a great idea.
September 24, 2019
Hey kids, you like laughs right? Well, recently (if you think about the grand breadth of time that us ridiculous humans have been on earth, super recently) I got to go down to new-ish Seattle hotel bar Ben Paris and have a Last Laugh cocktail made by Abigail Gullo. Now that’s a laugh worth savoring – and you can savor, too, cause I then wrote about it for Seattle magazine, and they printed what I wrote, and all that. For reals! Go check it out now, why dontcha.
Tags: Abigail Gullo, Bars, Ben Paris, Cava, Cocktail News, cocktail recipe, Gin, green Chartreuse, Last Laugh, Last Word varient, lime, maraschino liqueur, Seattle Bars, Seattle Magazine
Posted in: Bars, Cocktail News, Seattle Magazine
July 16, 2019
Cocktail, bar, and spirit lovers, I’m sure that you haven’t missed a moment of Seattle magazine lately – cause you’re far too smart for that. But I also know that things get busy, and other things come up, and then this, and then that, and then you find you’re a little behind, and it’s okay! You know why? Cause you can catch up on any pieces you might have missed right here and now:
• Baker’s, An Excellent Neighborhood Bar—With Delicious Drinks—Arrives in North Ballard
• Sure, Windy City Pies’ Pizzas Are Delish—but Don’t Miss the Drinks
• Skål Brings Meat, Mead and More to Ballard
• 5 Drinks to Help Celebrate National Poetry Month
June 11, 2019
Recently, I took the long trip (hahaha, I kid, I kid) over to Bellevue, WA, to visit a neat little bar called Civility & Unrest, and instantly – after having a few of the find cocktails – wondered why I hadn’t been before. While there, I got to chat a bit with friendly and talented bartender Jessie Yoskin and she made me a refreshing botanical springtime French garden of a drink called A Day in Giverny, and then I got to write about it, with recipe, for Seattle magazine. Now, you, lucky you, can read about A Day in Giverny, too. Do it now, or you’ll be sad!
The new year has begun, and I know one of your resolutions is probably to not miss any of the fine articles on the fine 
