Photos by Dylan Byron

The train’s through Hunters Point and it’s a blur of December pink, maybe the last of that shade you’ll see before the U.S.A. on the other side. It’s hard to leave the boroughs if you don’t drive, and why would you want to? On the other hand, the Met’s a little lonely on Saturday nights without the usual retinue of: boyfriend, mother. The park looks dark through the glass, but the café’s not bad, actually, alone. First Eid, Second Eid, Christmas—the year goes fast in the Qatari-American household, though as a poet you know the real holiday is Midwinter Day. My phone was in a toilet in Greenpoint. Yes, he put it there. It was ours. Did the landlord see anything go out the window? And did I deserve it, wandering around 57^th St. with my new boy-man-friend to come, maybe.

So, if you can’t operate a vehicle and like to shop at thrift stores, why take the Long Island Railroad (“the Railroad”) to have a friend drive you further out of the city to a nearly empty, soon-to-be-sold Long Island mall? Then as now the holidays are approaching and I’m thinking a mall without commerce is like a gay man at Christmas: there’s a function that isn’t being performed. It’s empty and you can talk about old boyfriends, new ones. How will we pay the rent? It’s new-planet warm and a pleasure to steal afternoon hours at PS1 instead of handling disconnection, but then there’s the lease.

Image: Mike Mozart via Flickr

Aldi, a German company with outposts across Europe, has quietly become one one of the biggest grocery chains in the US. Since it first opened its doors in Iowa in 1976, it has established 1,600 locations across the nation. Over the next five years, it announced in June, that number will jump to 2,500, putting its reach alongside that of Walmart and Krogers. The grocer is throwing itself head first into the American Supermarket Wars, and cranking up its numbers in a bid for dominance. But the Aldi strategy also includes a $1.6 billion investment in the renovation of existing locations: the company, after forty years in this country, is giving up its staunch disinterest in US shopping norms.

Existing locations will be updated with brightened lighting, wider aisles, and expanded perishables sections. These updates all mark basic standards in American retail; introducing them is the first major concession Aldi has made to the comfortably expansive, glitteringly bright megamarkets that surround it in the US. Existing stores, pre-renovation, feel more like German warehouses than American supermarkets; the dim lighting, narrow isles, and minimal perishables sections contribute to that feeling. But the entire Aldi system is in opposition to the more-is-more Walmart ethos.

In New York City, the company’s only location (for now) is on 117^th on the banks of the East River. It’s five long avenue blocks from the nearest subway stop—no open-armed welcome to curious passersby here. If you are at Aldi, it’s because you needed groceries and you went out to get them, not because you were tempted in by a cute box of chocolates, or a deal posted in the window, or the warm comfort of brightly lit Christmas displays on a cold afternoon.

Enjoy.

★★★ A shallow S-curve of migrating geese crossed the sky, breaking apart briefly and then reforming as it went. The cold in the air and the cold in the chest were both biting again. The daylight was shining when it could, with things at almost their bottom. The view in all directions had cleared up.

Image: Pixabay

BELINDA: Hello. You have indicated that you wish to initiate a chat session with me, Benefits, Employee, Legal, Insurance, Nuptials, and Divorce Assistance, also known as BELINDA! What can I help you with today?

ME: i need to change my employee status to married

BELINDA: Congratulations! Marriage is a significant life event! Have you consulted our easy-to-follow guide to Life Event Changes, located on WORKzone PLUS+?

ME: i did go there but i got an error message and so im chatting with you

BELINDA: I love chatting with you, too! I’m sorry you had trouble accessing WORKzone PLUS+. Here is a link: www.workzoneplus+.com. Is there anything else I can help you with today?

ME: no i already went there and dont know what im doing wrong

By justgrimes – Flickr: Yakamein (aka old sober), CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

Twice a week, most months, for the past three years, I’ve decamped around lunch time in convenience marts and pop-ups and diners and bars lining New Orleans for yaka mein. These places are usually full of black folks, on break, in their thirties and forties. They’ll pull up to the register with scratch-offs, or half-eaten po’boys. Other times, white people pass through on Yelp expeditions, visiting from out of town, flashing the cashier with reviews on their phones. Mostly everyone’s looking for booze, or a winning ticket, or a lucky break, but if you ask around for yaka mein they just might give that to you, too.

Yaka mein doesn’t have a clean translation. There’s not even a consistent spelling. It’s yackamein, and yaki mein, and yock a mein, but it’s also just yock. Some locals call it Old Sober, derived from its role as a hangover cure. When it’s done right, the broth owes a lot to tonkotsu’s eye-opening saltiness, and the fillings are akin to menudo’s in how way the meal just sort of opens your mouth up. What’s consistent are the ingredients: a beefy broth, leavened by soy sauce. Seasoned with some cayenne pepper. You add a little bit of paprika, garlic, and green onions. Toss in a thimbleful of onion powder. Maybe a helping of sriracha. Afterwards, you top that with a glowing hard-boiled egg. Spaghetti noodles fill out the dish, soaking up the broth, floating just under the meat, and you could easily just call the dish soup or whatever but that would be pretty fucking lazy.

Bratapfel, or roasted apple. Photo: Wikimedia Commons user Geolina163

1. Glühwein (GLEEEUU-vine)
2. Adventskalender chocolate (Ahd-VENTZ-kah-LEHN-dar)
3. Schokokringel (SHO-ko-KRING-ul)
4. Schokoäpfel (SHO-ko-EP-ful)
5. Bratäpfel (BROT-EP-ful)
6. Quarkbällchen (KVARK-BELL-schen)
7. Chocolate Weihnachtsmänner (VIE-nochts-MEH-nur)
8. Zimtsterne (TSEEMT-steer-nuh)
9. Spekulatius (speh-koo-LAH-tsee-oos)
10. Dominosteine (DOH-mee-noh-SHTY-nuh)
11. Grog (KROK)
12. Marzipankartoffeln (MAR-tsee-PAHN-kah-TOFF-uln)
13. Marzipanbrot (MAR-tsee-PAHN-brote)
14. Gebrannte Mandeln (guh-BRON-tuh MON-duln)
15. Stollen (STOLL-un)
16. Lebkuchen (LAYB-kook-un)
17. Random nuts in dishes around the house
18. Eierlikör (nein DAN-ke)

[I cried a river then crossed the river]

I cried a river then crossed the river
I did this on my own without a boat or magic
It was a shallow river, but wide and swift
I carried a bundle of clothes and books

Then my bundle was lost in a flood
I cried so much, I cried an ocean
Then I set sail in an old boat
It was made of driftwood and rags

I crossed the ocean and lost the boat
One big wave tossed me on an island
In this quiet place, my crying dried
I befriended birds and a small cat

I befriended farmers with tiny farms
Who feed me with onions and potatoes
Blackberries, blueberries, cabbages, squash
All year, they keep me well-fed and full

I live in a treehouse in the forest
My tears live in a lake I never touch
Floods are only rain, and storms end
I wait for the sound of waves on the shore

Mary Meriam’s poems have been published by The New York Times, the Poetry Foundation, Oxford University Press, National Public Radio, Penguin Random House, University Press of New England, Seal Press, and many literary journals. 

The Poetry Section is edited by Mark Bibbins.

It’s the shortest day of the year and it’s still going to go on forever. Anyway, here’s music, enjoy.