Coffee
and Other Synonyms
i held you in
gloved hands,
watched your warmth
rise and drift
from your surface
felt your subtle
radiance upon my
arcing life line
all these degrees,
i didn’t know to drink
more of you
before the winter
we all knew
would come,
render these moments
neon snow globes
lighting the borders
of deep sleep —
i know there’s
a cage waiting
when i awake
if i make it…
realize what i held
was time and
even half-full
now requires ice picks
and shovels and science
we do not possess
i should have
drank
more of you,
should have kept
those gloves
and sewn them into
pillows,
somehow
we quietly sipped our
way out of sharing,
our lips leaving
residue on the rims
of our comfort,
i compost
these bitter grounds
and wait
for a spring when you
blossom and sweeten
the air that once lived
within you —
it was warm
those vapors,
transient rituals
i imagine
were mostly
made of water and
silk
suitable to hide
hard swallows
