**
I wish I owned a restaurant then I could run Specials: Today Toni Morrison Stew.
An exotic mix of tears and sympathy.
The best thing about The Bluest Eye special is the Marigolds.
Credit: Melville House
They didnt flower but the seeds are there.
Drop a few in the bowl and see what grows.
I also really recommend the Sula.
The mixture of two girl friends who lose each other.
It does not come with dessert but it can have hot bread.
Timing is everything with this dish.
It has to balance the desire with the impossible.
Sometimes the chef will put a bit of college in to mix with that wonderful hat.
Of course wed mix Jazz Belovedly with a movie and a talk or two.
Lets call it The Morrison Cafe.
Vodka, though my preference is cheap champagne.
And only bottled water.
If Tonis home had been open to gourmets there would always be porgies frying.
Porgies were a treat.
It was more than a poet could actually afford but she was, after all, Toni Morrison.
I had my town car take me up to her home and take us to the cafe.
So I rode up said Good Night and came back to Manhattan.
I am fortunate to call Toni Morrison friend.
Mostly neither of us had much to say.
There was always a comfortable silence when I visited her.
My mother transitioned 24th June then my sister just after that on 5 August.
I tried to do what any good daughter and sister would do and I think I got it done.
But it was sad.
One afternoon I was sitting at my desk just sort of being dismayed when I decided to call Toni.
I probably talked more than ever and she was kind enough to listen.
She finally said Nikki, Write.
Thats all you might do.
The title of this book is The Last Interview but there will never be a last interview with Toni.
Her books live and talk to us.
She could have said Read.
But she said Write.
And she is Right.
