Author: pfornale

As leaves fall And empires sink to ruin, As fires consume a forest And stars implode-- So shatters the elegant, Crystalline structure Of a soul shimmering In the light of what makes it exist. And still, no close of day, No falling shards, No completed circle Can deprive what used to be Of having been. [...]

This is a family recipe that I enjoyed when I first visited relatives in Bussolengo, Italy.  Bussolengo is a town outside of Verona, in the north.  Since most Italian-Americans descend from ancestors from the south of Italy, we often think of Italian food as using a lot of tomatoes and olive oil.  In the north, [...]

Every spiritual tradition contains, at its core, profound human truths.  Indeed, I learned this as part of my religious education in Catholic schools, as the curriculum included exploration of many religions. Buddhism, in particular, reduces the complexity of human suffering to the Four Noble Truths, and its Eight-Fold Path offers an elegant prescription to escape [...]

I do not like chain restaurants, usually.  One reason of several came about when I ordered Spaghetti alla Carbonara at an Olive Garden restaurant many years ago.  It had what tasted like an Alfredo sauce, and there were also vegetables in it.  The whole thing was very heavy, and I did not enjoy it. Done [...]

Some months ago, I roughed out an outline of an alternative to Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche story.  In this scenario, love needn't come to a happy conclusion. I've long pondered the nobility of the romantic sentiment that cannot find a meaningful consummation in real life.  Poetry isn't real of course--at least, not in the terms [...]

Steak au Poivre is classic French comfort food.  I usually make it with pommes frites ("fries" to us Anglophones) and Brussels sprouts or green beans. I first had this dish when I lived in North Arlington, NJ and would often take the bus into Manhattan.  My favorite restaurant was a bistro called Tout Va Bien [...]

When I was a small child--about four years old--my mother did some volunteer secretarial work for our local YMCA, which had an outdoor pool.  I remember sitting once alone in a playroom while my mother was typing in the adjacent office.  A girl of about eight walked in from the pool to use the bathroom, [...]

PART II           The next morning I had a true brainstorm, and my moment of inspiration came to me in the most unexpected way.  I was in the main office of my school, and Mr. Melosh, my math teacher, was making copies of an upcoming test I was just dying to get a look at.  We [...]

Adesso, Respiro I breathe out; I live my days awake. I breathe in; I sleep through the night. Breathless before, I envied the art of others, Gasped in anger at the mirror, And desperately chased my wages— My lungs never full. Panting all those years, I scented not The fires in the hearths, The flowers [...]