Coffee Ceremony

good old well water
from the deep and cold
right mix of beans
a few lighter browns
many more darks

ground up precise
bang the grinder
shake loose the
last few remnants
of this perfect blend

now the brewer
today...Bodum

boil, pour, soak, wait
a few grinds bubble
float up...wait
a solid patient pause

ready - press slow n'steady
this most sacred brew
for the tired monk

the last winter poem

late night
low snow plough rumbles
back-up beeping
blue lights flashing
metal blade scraping - shooting sparks

the tired monk
now awake
picks up his shovel
joins in

night in the snow temple

i)

snow is laying in thick
trees bend
branches snap
temple beams creak

power flickers twice
     dies

tired monk keeps on
reading
by candle light

ii)

even the candles
     die
red wax on the temple floor

tired monk strums
a few lost n'lonely chords
this old guitar has new strings
resonates deep
into the dark

poem duty

snow whips in sideways
pelted face stings

notebook pages twist, rip
frostbit hand settles them

pen darts in quick strokes
finishes poem's last line



even in the midst of the apocalypse
the world needs poems  
                              - the tired monk

on snow and coffee

snow swirls
into the black
of my coffee
even here
deep under
hemlock boughs

incense

first predawn temple bell sounds
tired monk shakes his head
to stir the first prayer

select beans are ground up right
water to coffee ratios seem sound
soon...french roast incense

song fragment

you are the chords
i hear before they're strummed
you are the chords
i play with my eyes closed
you are the chords
the ones that resonate

you are the notes
you are a love note