coffee

Next Thursday

Next Thursday

(for my friend)

How are you? What’s

up? I have an operation

to excise a tumor:

is that normal

talk in our coffee shop?

Do you mind? I can’t

feel it, but it bothers me

a lot—I think I can

manage until then, though

it gets hard, you know?

You don’t?

You’ve never had this

in the flesh? You’ve never

Felt the fear? I could

Wish I were you!

Have to go? I understand:

no, I’ll stay here for

a while, have

another cuppa.

I like today’s blend;

it smells, well, it smells

like oily health.

Yum. See you. See

You tonight? Well,

if you can make

it. If not, well, I guess

I’ll understand.

C L Couch

October 26, 2016 11

Monday Duo

Monday Duo

What shall I write about?

What shall we talk about?

It is Monday

Though any day is fine

Monday morning, of course,

Lends itself

Toward silence and slow

Moving

Maybe coffee later today

And conversation

Would be just right

Will you join me? I know I’d

Like that

The privilege of your company,

Quieter delight in your

Companionship

September 26, 2016 5

Haiku over Coffee

Haiku over Coffee

(while I was away)

Fat robin. Pregnant?

Why not, this is fecund time.

Eggs into small birds.

(walking through the yard)

never never ne

ver will I trust in this a

gain mean it this time

(playing with “never” the way

Shakespeare plays “tomorrow”)

“selfishness of mind”

is the “common enemy”

Dalai Lama bless

(at the bookstore)

Too much death in news

Guns, traffic, derailments, fire

Country mouse for home

(reading and watching the city

news at the same time)

So you know, all friends

Each drafting of one of these

Truly with coffee

(even now)

April 9, 2016 4

Journaling at the Start of 5 February

Journaling at the Start of 5 February

Added coffee to the canister. Drank from a
Mouthwash bottle nearly empty with a full one
Beside. Same with toothpaste, when it’s time.
These small abundances matter much.

It’s a bunch of days. So the television tells me.
Something to do with weather, with a kind of
Food, and with the heart. Maybe something pre-
Valentine’s. I slept five or six hours, which is not
Enough. I slept under a throw, which is not enough
Though better than a blanket making me too hot.

Too hot in winter. (In a cold-winter clime.) That
Should be a blessing.

February 5, 2016 4

Receipts

Receipts

I’ll keep these for a time
Since they mark and note
The trip I took not so far
Away or so long ago

Pay slips from the turnpike
To represent my drives
Out and back, a map of
A town back home I found
At a station kiosk—sometimes
These are surprise-filled
Documents, even for a
Place I know

Coffee receipts out, those
For sandwiches on the
Way back in

Business card for a city
Place, the kind of which
We do not have in my
Small town, but at which
I had lunch with my family

Saint Vincent de Paul, whose
Thrift store I visited with my
Sister, where I bought a small
Piece of clear-black glass

An olive oil store—a
Festive, promising
New niche place—I
Got a narrow bottle of
Honey-serrano vinegar
For my brother-in-law
Who cooks a lot

Purchase record for a
Calendar I bought
On sale and then the

Best—a paper testimony
From a local bookstore

How I wish there were
More like this! I had gift
Card, it had the books

There are other neighbor
Places to support—those
Selling food and clothing and
Art-expression pieces from
Those makers starting out
Close by

But these books will do
They were my part in
My going, my time away, and
My returning afterward

My small trip—for
Now, a small-documented
Odyssey

January 5, 2016 11

interstitial

while drinking tepid stuff

the coffee-maker just beeped
it’s an old machine, the spouse of
Missus Coffee, I suppose

I don’t know how that relationship
is holding up, since missus doesn’t live
in, though I look for her now and
then on eBay

the timer on the machine failed first, and
the coffee made isn’t all that great, since
I can’t seem to get it hot enough

but we’ve been through much, old Mister
and me—and I suppose I’ll keep him
round ‘til the machinery of one of us
fails for good

(I often write about morning and coffee, since for me they often go together. It’s an exercise, ritual, I don’t know what. But while I’m working on something more involved, I thought I’d share one of these pieces with you.)

October 24, 2015 7