Talking To My Morning Coffee
You are the perfect color!
A compliment to old beige
pot holders hanging east
of the paper towels,
a string of steam rising from your face.
I grab two popped-up slices with one hand
squeezing your waistline with the other.
You haven’t the heart to tell me
Breaking bad news, sweetened with agave.
Has the cat been up to something, though?
Did I miss the morning forecast
for low clouds in the shape of chewed gum?
Have we started a war, bombing,
yesterday’s hot vacation spot?
I hear children running to catch the bus
to enjoy big laughs bouncing all the way
-wherever they’re headed.
My hot coffee, are you beginning to chill
reaching the bottom of our moments
together
Thank you for this last gulp, the taste
of courage to grind out another day.
Clarence Allan Ebert
Ebert was recently published in The Bluebird Word (Jan. & May 2023); Bourgeon (Feb. & July 2023); Poetry.com (Runner-up selection in March & June 2023 contests); and upcoming in Winged Penny Review, Fall 2023 and Bourgeon, Print Journal, Fall 2023. He is a Boomer (71 years old) and a "survivor" of cancer (colon & liver). He first published a poem, Recipe for Harmony in 1978. He has written in numerous different genres including news & magazine articles as a journalist, short fiction, flash, legal articles as an attorney, & poetry as a father, lover, and permanent student. He writes what falls on his old head, revises, revises, and feels happiest when writing, published or not. Hi motto is simple. People in his social group, boomers surviving cancer, are as relevant in this wacky, weird, and sometimes wonderful world as the next son-of-a-gun. Poetry (personal creativity) is one way of showing our bounty of wisdom!