Poetry Friday

via Unsplash

In praise of joe
by Marge Piercy

I love you hot
I love you iced and in a pinch
I will even consume you tepid.

Dark brown as wet bark of an apple tree,
dark as the waters flowing out of a spooky swamp
rich with tannin and smelling of thick life—

but you have your own scent that even
rising as steam kicks my brain into gear.
I drink you rancid out of vending machines,

I drink you at coffee bars for $6 a hit,
I drink you dribbling down my chin from a thermos
in cars, in stadiums, on the moonwashed beach.

Mornings you go off in my mouth like an electric
siren, radiating to my fingertips and toes.
You rattle my spine and buzz in my brain.

Whether latte, cappuccino, black or Greek
you keep me cooking, you keep me on line.
Without you, I would never get out of bed

but spend my life pressing the snooze
button. I would creep through wan days
in the form of a large shiny slug.

You waken in me the gift of speech when I
am dumb as a rock buried in damp earth.
It is you who make me human every dawn.
All my books are written with your ink.

I'm a tea drinker, but except for that small detail and the fact that I've not written multiple books (yet), this poem rings fairly true. There's a steaming cuppa sitting beside me as I write.

Here's to all the things that gut us out of bed and waken in us the gift of speech, including Poetry Friday! Carol, at Beyond LiteracyLink, has the roundup this week.

Poetry Friday on Caffeine

A New Lifestyle by James Tate the whole poem is here A New Lifestyle People in this town drink too much coffee. They're jumpy all the time. You see them drinking out of their big plastic mugs while they're driving. They cut in front of you, they steal your parking places. . . . . . .They're so serious about their coffee, it's all they can think about, nothing else matters. Everyone's wide awake but looks incredibly tired. * * * * * * * * * * * I am wide awake and incredibly tired. When it comes to caffeine, I'm serious about my tea. And my Dove Dark Chocolate. I've had plenty of both in the **gasp** TEN days since I blogged! What can I say: Lit. Conference weekend, report cards (grading, grading, grading), Saturday conference, Sunday leadership retreat (another weekend -- poof -- gone), powerpoint to create and present, physical therapy, etc., etc., etc. But I think my head is finally above water. It's good to be back.