1335 Frankford

Coffee and Poetry


“Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.”

– From The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, T.S. Eliot

We wonder how many poems were inspired, or made possible, by coffee. It’s World Poetry Day and there is no shortage of words written about this dark magic, this universal morning nectar. Today we appreciate the wordsmiths that continue to inspire and energize us. Hafez, Neruda, Eliot, Bishop, Cohen, Angelou, wish we could have a cup of coffee with each of them and thank them for their uplifting compositions.

Here’s a poem from our resident poet at La Colombe, the lyrical Josey Dear:

Spring breezes awaken the child
that has slept within tattered folds
of kindred memory in mirrored mind

Love is most always a compromise
Between heat, technique, agitation, and time
Just like the perfect cup of coffee

Warming organs and honeyed throat
Whispering at the top of our lungs
Secrets long ago forgotten

And here we sit again
Across from one another
This red checkered tablecloth between us
Booze-sick with Hangover

She smiles slyly and lifts the cup to her lips
and I quietly wonder to myself

Who’s going to make her coffee
When I’m gone?