Who’s got your goat?
My Glimmer is Truly Shallow
Missed Connections in Vermont
I missed the boat; he took the goat
as Paris burned and fell.
Oh, my ugly, misshapen, bent-backed boy–
your spine asked me a question
and my body went dumb.
My mind went, “Why,” and “If only,” and “What if?”
Your heart was on fire,
but you you picked up on the truth,
and so you took the goat.
So, I turned back in filmy dress,
to stumble barefoot to the flames–
to spread my candle-wax arms
and melt into the perfect hot.
In the cold shadow of a perfect body,
when the fires are dead,
I sometimes miss my goat.
Won’t you have mercy,
and row back home to shore?
I would have mercy,
and quench your passion with my warmth.
Her Two Cents
Over the weekend a friend made a very good batch of sangria using the Love My Goat red from Bully Hill vineyards. What Bully Hill may lack in terms of Wine Spectator ratings they certainly make up for in back-story. In the early 90s I bought a poster of the drawing above during a trip to Bully Hill HQ in Hammondsport, NY and had it framed. I didn’t get a chance to meet the infamous Walter S. Taylor during that trip, but friends had – and said he certainly lived up to his reputation of being crazy in all the right and wrong ways. While enjoying the fruity goodness of my beverage, I wondered aloud why a documentary hadn’t been made of Taylor’s life: his family’s wine-making legacy, the rift that launched Bully Hill, the outrageous legal battles with Coca-Cola over his name, his artwork and horrific accident were all perfect materials for a compelling story. As I set about putting my “goat” theme together for today’s post, I searched to see what Taylor was doing these days – and discovered that he had died in 2001. ~ During the court case that effectively stripped him of his last name, Taylor was quoted as saying, “So I got a goat and it saved my life. That’s when I decided to laugh at the whole thing, to laugh at life.” Makes for good advice and for a cold, refreshing drink on a hot day. Cheers to you, Walter S. Taylor!
