Throughout the Morning, Early, Early

 Throughout the Morning, Early, Early

After 'Miss Olson'

1952

tempera on panel 

Throughout the morning early, early

and as coffee has no choices

or solutions in it all, cooling

how it goes to almost unsippable

to gulpable in the December room

nearly all to once - how the tip

of the fuzzy tongue burned

impatient for the cooling delay

is lately numb to the water forced through

the ground to almost powder beans

(depending on your temerity) (your

need) with the start of the coldest

water brought up to the hottest

the both you can muster heat

the last is almost obligatory a

clean-your-plate-before-you-

leave morality because someone

somewhere is thirsty.  Keep it

at least briefly, on a first sip

meeting.  Don't be bored or force

the kiss.  Imagine that all night

you have been stoking

the coals and roasting the opening

of these beans and then broken them and sifted them

between the mesh and strain

and forced them

but only sweetly only ever sweetly

into such a being