04/05
passover and over again

for passover i went to berkeley. there, when they put out the paschal greens, they REALLY put out the greens. you know what i'm talkin' bout, mmm-hmm.

passover was really cleansing, but not in the way you think it would be. when you fast, and you just don't eat for a day, it's like you're hanging your body out to dry -- all the food flows out of your system, and then you feel a litlte bit lighter, like the food has just gone away. but on passover, we're still eating, only we're removed from the regular cycle of eating. all the food we eat is different. the preparation is different. even the times we eat, kind of...

i ate at jenny's house. an orgy of cheese and egg salads, my veganism sinking slowly down my esophagus. i think it hid out behind that little piece of skin that hangs in the roof of your mouth. jenny sent me home with leftovers. she was worried about me finding kosher l'pesach stuff. i didn't tell her i just said yes because her zucchini rocks my world. that would sound kind of bizarre, even if you don't take it the wrong way.

i ate at the kosher group house in berkeley. for the seder, andy levitated matzos over our heads. this mystical ritual that makes your body absorb the matzah and the area around your body, too. people traded Shlomo songs like trading cards. some days, i can't imagine living outside berkeley. some days, i just want to wrap it around me like a blanket.

the same passover makes you rethink food, it makes you rethink life. other angles and stuff. i didn't have a job for all passover, but i mostly couldn't. people don't want schedules with that many holes in it. this week i may be temping again, which should fire up the poetry engine, if only by virtue of me getting some new pens to work with. and new girls to stammer over.

oh, but i'll tell you about it later.