COFFEE

COFFEE

Slow sip of steam and bitter brown.

Ahh! Coffee!

Out here in what’s left of the farm,

in the garden she planted for me,

it is still quiet enough

for memories and fantasies

to glint like arctic ice

in the fire of an early sun.

My lips on the hot rim,

breathe the vapor,

sip,

mmm!

Those red gladiolas across the pond

flicker a distant passion,

their pink centers pierced by the

tongue of a flirtatious hummingbird.

He flits down and perches to rest

from his exertions on one of the 

rocks below the bed.

Breathe again,

slow sip,

swallow.

Ahh!

The cluster of yellow daises

whispers an old rock and roll tune

as a little corner in the smoky

recesses of my head

dances like I used to do,

wholly involved. Reach again 

for my cup and the movement

startles two nearby robins

who flutter up and then back.

Sip,

sip,

breathe.

Off to the left, one of the little frogs

who lives beneath the bridge

I built below the weeping willow

croaks a loss or two now that you 

are gone.

Swirl,

sip,

sigh.

In moments like these, the things

I have yet to do no longer matter 

as much as the cooling last swallows

in the red mug on the arm of my

lawn chair. Not to worry, there is 

plenty more in the pot.

Swallow.

Copyright

Vol Lindsey

5/15/2005

 

Reviews

[Casey Truax]

It’s like the coffee is the axis around which everything else revolves.

[Vol]

Casey,
Or so Star*ucks would have us believe...
Vol

[Lorry]

I'm hoping that isn't one of those froo froo coffees, but a good old honest to goodness home brew, maybe from a tin with a label that just says coffee, that hasn't been within ten miles of a barista, or as they used to be called "waiter/waitress" 😊
Your picture that your words paint sounds an ideal way that coffee should be drank,, with not a screen in sight and time enough to take in your surroundings and the subtle changes that time let's your eyes truly see.
Those things left to do don't matter. If only we could all find a little bit of that peace to enjoy our coffee.

[Vol]

In a world of sensory overload, we have to find our own "thin places." The setting is my home on a two acre lot in Tennessee, but I sold it and moved to Texas. A little over a mile away, the state created on/off ramps for a major highway. The peace and quiet are now extinct and there is now a rapidly evolving encroachment of traffic and development. Had I waited till now, instead of the 150k I sold it for in 2015, it is worth close to half a mil... Story of my life.