Hiya everyone. I've invited everyone along to my blog today, to join me in a cup of coffee, and have a poetry reading while we partake. I was hoping to upload a video of myself reading my latest poetry effort, an undertaking that has taken up a lot of my creative time. But the mystery of this new technology has confounded me, so I will just have to post up the poem, and you can read at your leisure. My apologies.
Shoes have not been cobbled, the customers are ringing, and my wife has been wondering why the till is so bare. Business has taken a severe downturn while I perfect the art of composing a wee bit of prose. This has taken many hours of writing, re-writing, and re-writing..... But I struggled on, and crafted the following.
Coffee Reminiscences attempts to contrast our quick fix serve of coffee against the long, and drawn out affair in Ethiopia, ( the primary home of the coffee plant - Coffee Arabica,) where the serving of coffee is a ceremony undertaken with care and reverence to honour you as a guest.
You are my guests.
So remove your shoes at the door, go pour a cup, kick back and relax while we read some poetry.
This portrays my early wander to work each morning, with my dog, across our city centre car park where the aroma of coffee from Davie's Coffee Trailer permeates the air. I resist the temptation, then stroll through the railway pedestrian underpass, glancing at the commuters who are enjoying a brew from the servery on the platform, and head over to my workshop where I make my own from coffee we brought back from Ethiopia.
I have been asked to speak at our local fund raising event for a Hospice, a project we both wholeheartedly support. I will be reading the following to up to 500 persons attending. So I'm practising on you, my honoured guests here.
Click on any photo for full size.
Shoes have not been cobbled, the customers are ringing, and my wife has been wondering why the till is so bare. Business has taken a severe downturn while I perfect the art of composing a wee bit of prose. This has taken many hours of writing, re-writing, and re-writing..... But I struggled on, and crafted the following.
Coffee Reminiscences attempts to contrast our quick fix serve of coffee against the long, and drawn out affair in Ethiopia, ( the primary home of the coffee plant - Coffee Arabica,) where the serving of coffee is a ceremony undertaken with care and reverence to honour you as a guest.
You are my guests.
So remove your shoes at the door, go pour a cup, kick back and relax while we read some poetry.
This portrays my early wander to work each morning, with my dog, across our city centre car park where the aroma of coffee from Davie's Coffee Trailer permeates the air. I resist the temptation, then stroll through the railway pedestrian underpass, glancing at the commuters who are enjoying a brew from the servery on the platform, and head over to my workshop where I make my own from coffee we brought back from Ethiopia.
I have been asked to speak at our local fund raising event for a Hospice, a project we both wholeheartedly support. I will be reading the following to up to 500 persons attending. So I'm practising on you, my honoured guests here.
Click on any photo for full size.
 |
| The car park with Davies' Coffee Trailer on the left. |
Chill early morning, car park bare
Upon the air aromas
Drawing in, my nostrils flare.
The patient quad of customers
Await at Davies’ coffee trailer.
Railway platform, passengers gripping
Their hole in the wall quick fix.
Cubicle commuter tripping
Waiting for the 8.06.
Do memories come with each serving?
Savouring silky souvenir brew
Mind wanders with aroma.
Cobbler’s last recedes from view
Sits woman near her burner.
Abyssinia, I feel anew.
No hurried serve; to honour bestow
Beans lovingly care roasted
Woman tends her brazier glow
Nor burnt, just lightly toasted
Steeped and served to cure your woe.
The legend says a goat that pranced
And piquing shepherds ire
Taking beans from bush discovered
Was forbidden, cast on fire
Nature, the boy and monk rewarded.
 |
| This goat has been chewing coffee beans obviously.... |
Now nutty brew I slowly savour
Invigorating brain
Caffeine fix morning starter
I smuggled off the plane.
God please forgive this coffee craver.
So now as you rush for your cubicle
And grab another quick fix brew
Consider just how wonderful
Coffee Arabica’s history
Comes free with every mouthful.
 |
| Traditional coffee pots at Timbati Market |
Ethiopia coffee ceremony- how-to-take-part-in-an-ethiopian-coffee-ceremony-20100203/
26 comments:
What an aromatic brew, your coffee is!! Jim lovely poem composed with so much love and care and apt for the gathering, loved it.
Well done! I can smell the aromas through your words. I would love to be "Savouring silky souvenir brew". I had to settle for a restaurant's unremarkable brand this morning.
I also appreciate the wonderful work of hospice organizations. How nice of you to read this poem for a fundraising event. I think it will be enjoyed by all. Thanks for sharing with us first!
Love this! My shoes are by the door and I'm slowly sipping. . .yummy!
Oh my! I just woke up by the way JIM, and this is the first thing that sets in my mine immediately. To be with you for this coffee love affair... So I humbly took off my shoes at the doorstep, sat at the corner and savoured an aroma that's hard to resist... Ahhhh! Coffee!
Your poem is remarkable! And so I came here with a tumble! I'm not sure if I'll fumble with my poetry that may seem, humble. A guy so affable... apparently I have nothing to grumble... Good luck Jim for even though your soles have had their holes.... your heart remains pure. Thank you for the coffee invitation....:)
I'm getting another... mmmm
Thank you everyone,it's been an honour to serve up coffee and poetry. So no one has laughed at my feeble attempt ?
It's 4 am in Turkey and I can't sleep because of the full moon. Could there have been a better way to fully wake up than coffee and poetry with Jim. Thanks for sharing.
Why would anyone laugh? It really evokes the wonder of good coffee - and the contrast between the quick fix and full experience is amazing!
Have a great day!!
Thanks Inka, and after a shot of Turkish expresso you're wide awake now, aren't you?
Jim, lovely poem. I admire how you followed the ABAB rhyming structure. Reads so effortless. And I thought I caught a sniff of arabica aroma in the air. :) Perfect on a lazy Sunday morning.
Yeah AJ, this is how it finally turned out. The original version had a completely different structure but was a bit to jerky in the flow so rearranged the phrasing and after copious cups of coffee, here we are now.
And nice to see you here Red. You gonna get a facebook page up soon?
Jim, what a great idea. Coffee and poetry. After a hard days work in garden and DIY round the house it was so great to escape for this coffee appointment. Really great!
Jim:
Well, here I am at last. Not many to give me company as everyone has had their share and left. With coffee and poetry, I never feel alone. They give me excellent company and thoughts.
I also admire the elaborate tea ceremonies of Japan and China. Have you been there in your journeys, Jim?
I enjoy reading of cultures and their customs. I'm glad that you decided to do this. Quite a creative way of keeping people connected. Shall we expect another ceremony like this in the near future?
Ah, I forgot. Got some gifts for you. Hope you like them. Some quotes on coffee: Here they go,
"Decaffeinated coffee is the devil's blend." ~Author Unknown
"Be a coffee-drinking individual - espresso yourself!" ~Author Unknown
"Everybody should believe in something. I believe I'll have another coffee." ~Author Unknown
"Caffeine is my shepherd; I shall not doze.
It maketh me to wake in green pastures:
It leadeth me beyond the sleeping masses.
It restoreth my buzz:
It leadeth me in the paths of consciousness for its name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of addiction,
I will fear no Equal™:
For thou art with me; thy cream and thy sugar they comfort me.
Thou preparest a carafe before me in the presence of The Starbucks:
Thou anointest my day with pep; my mug runneth over.
Surely richness and taste shall follow me all the days of my life:
And I will dwell in the House of Mochas forever."
~Author Unknown
Best,
Susan
That's fantastic Susan. I'm having another cup reading this through again. So cool sitting here enjoying coffee and reciting your poetry . And the quotes are excellent. I reckon we organise another coffee and petry reading again, but at someone else's house...er um blog I should say !
My coffee is brewing now while I read your wonderful prose. I feel my ordinary beans fall short, Ethiopian beans sound gormet, I long for some of those! I love the history and care that go along with their making :)
Ok..since coffee is the theme, I'd like to share a bit of a poem I wrote not too long ago..my ode to coffee :)
Oh little coffee bean
You are kind, never mean.
Such joy, while roasting you make,
As the sun, above the horizon, does break.
As long as your aroma rises with the morning light
I know everything is going to be all right.
Reviving the mind, warming the senses,
You take priority over all expenses!
Always making the top of our list for the grocery store,
Over yogurt, over broccoli, above all it’s you we adore!
Always glad to meet another coffee lover :)Putting my shoes back on and heading out...I now have to pancakes for the kids! Have a blessed day :)
Hmmm, so delicious, I'm on my 3rd cup...This is awesome, Jim, thanks for having us over. Good coffee, good company, great idea! You set up the perfect atmosphere and your poem is so clever and relaxed--love it! I was intrigued by the goat reference, then your link to Jenny Dunlop's article cleared it all up--fascinating. [Susan, cool quotes!] Take care, all!
I love this part! I would totally smuggle back coffee. I REALLY love my coffee. :)
Now nutty brew I slowly savour,
Invigorating brain.
Caffeine fix morning starter,
I smuggled off the plane.
God please forgive this coffee craver.
Beautiful.
But in my current sad-sack cubicle-dwelling existence I didn't take the time to get a coffee before reading.
But because I'm working remotely this morning, I have no shoes on anyway, and I'm able to wander off to the kitchen to open some souvenier coffee of my own - from Vietnam, the world's biggest producer of coffee.
Hi Jessica, Everyone enjoyed your Ode To Coffee. It's been a great coffee group meeting and that prose makes it so much better thanks.
Yes SweepyJean, I had to include a reference back to how history supposes coffee was discovered by the shepherd boy noticing his goats being really frisky. And the monk thinking they were devil beans, throwing them on a fire, then being rewarded by the aroma of the roasting beans.
Rachel, don't tell NZ border officials please!
Hi The Dropout. Glad you made it here. Quite interesting that Vietnam is now number 1 producer. I'll check your site out later, thanks for dropping in.
That is a PROPER poem! There's real discipline to creating something like that. Very skillful!
Got any more of that yummy Ethiopian blend left? My Folgers is kinda weak in flavor and aroma!
Very nice posting and very creative. Oh how I would love to try some of that coffee too.
David
MalaysiaAsia
Hi Robin, yes rhyming poetry is more my style also. Takes a bit more skill to do.
Wanda, I'm down to my last few spoonfuls so there's just enough to share with you.
Thanks David. Been reading your site too , getting ideas for a visit someday.
sorry jim i am late. but i came through the riff its getting larger wow that coffee sure smell goood i can see that this has been grrrreat fun. thanks again for the ivite great fun. see you at thchronicler we have two new chapter i am sure you will like. thank you and god bless.
awww Jim, I was a bit late with family still here and all .... but I managed to grab a cup of coffee (cold btw) added some ice and had a delicious iced coffee. Loved the poem. Thanks for having us for coffee
Hi Jim.........Sorry I'm a bit late. There was a bit left in the pot, so I helped myself. Great brew and a wonderful poem!
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