COFFEE
Coffee
is a brown man
Made
from soil,
Pressed
into shape,
Fired
shiny,
Waxen
as a lizard,
Hat
white like dried-out shells,
Pulling
at reins of a rearing horse,
Hooves
sharp as pickaxes
Kicking
up bright clouds of lime.
Dark
and fragrant visitor,
He
makes his diffident presence felt:
Memories
of fresh bread,
Woody
nuts,
Heady
camphor.
They
lighten
Slumbering
burdens,
Heavy
luggage hauled about
By
traveling sleepwalkers.
Swinging
open the cabinet,
He
hands out syrups to sweeten
Unfulfilled
dreams,
Hot
poultices to soothe
Unforgotten
nightmares,
Tonics
for the family,
Ointments
for friends,
Infusions
for the jaded,
Bandages
for the heart.
Sweet
fragrant coffee…
Sweet
fragrant coffee, you fill me with delight,
You
sharpen my hearing, focus my sight,
Waken
taste and smell with rich, deep notes…
You
waft restful draughts, quell restive seas,
Water
vineyards and groves, hoe fruit-bearing trees,
Build
sturdy safe homes, tidy cities on the plain,
Turn
denizens to work for prosperous gain,
Hoist
snappy white sails, launch fresh-painted boats…
You
uplift my heart, quicken my feeling!
Just
do not invade my sleep and dreaming.
I like my
coffee hot and black...
I
like my coffee hot and black—
hot
hornet stings,
black
squid ink—
heady
broth of
bitter
cumin,
red
pine smoke,
dusky
forests,
blue
lightning.
 |
| Coffee, nectar of the gods |
October 1, 2016 is International Coffee Day.
ReplyDeleteGonzalinho
Photo courtesy of trophygeek
ReplyDeletePhoto link: http://www.freestockphotos.biz/stockphoto/17878
Gonzalinho
Credits - original publications:
ReplyDelete“Sweet fragrant coffee...,” Eastlit (August 1, 2015)
“I like my coffee hot and black...,” One Sentence Poems (May 23, 2016)
Gonzalinho
COFFEE, METAPHOR FOR DEMOCRACY
ReplyDeleteThere is no reason a cup of joe should be more than $1, and yet we are totally comfortable with the increased costs that have accompanied coffee’s reascension. Is that because post-recession, it’s easier to distinguish your values and beliefs with something material, like a cup of coffee? Or we believe that something brought to market under better conditions is worth paying a bit more for? Regardless of the reasons underpinning the financials of coffee, Locol’s $1 cup represents a paradigm shift and a return to a mean—perhaps it is possible to have both sustainably raised coffee that tastes delicious.
Oliver Strand of the New York Times recently reported on Locol’s brews, and why the company is so adamant in redefining our centuries-old coffee culture:
“There’s an extreme democratization that I really want to make happen in coffee,” said Tony Konecny, the head of Locol’s coffee operation, who goes by Tonx. Good coffee, he said, should be brought to a broad audience, not just a “self-selecting group” of epicures.
Mr. Konecny’s ambitions for Yes Plz go beyond selling a high-quality cup of coffee at that magic price point, though he knows that it sends a powerful message. What he wants to do is shift the very nature of coffee culture. He has no patience for what he calls the “culinary burlesque” of pour-over bars, with their solemn baristas and potted succulents. “It’s dress-up,” he said.
Those settings and presentations, he said, send the wrong message: that good coffee must also be expensive and fetishized. “We have become overly focused on this ingredient preciousness, single-origin puritanism,” he said. As a result, he added, coffee just keeps getting “fancier and fancier.”
Link: https://longreads.com/2017/05/04/good-coffee-shouldnt-have-to-cost-more-than-1/
We agree with the author that the nectar of the gods should be within reach of the common tao.
Gonzalinho