"...one ought every day at least to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words." -Goethe
A poem for today: James Tate's "A New Lifestyle"
A New Lifestyle
People in this town drink too much
coffee. They're jumpy all the time. You
see them drinking out of their big plastic
mugs while they're driving. They cut in
front of you, they steal your parking places.
Teenagers in the cemeteries knocking over
tombstones are slurping café au lait.
Recycling men hanging onto their trucks are
sipping espresso. Dogcatchers running down
the street with their nets are savoring
their cups of mocha java. The holdup man
entering a convenience store first pours
himself a nice warm cup of coffee. Down
the funeral parlor driveway a boy on a
skateboard is spilling his. They're so
serious about their coffee, it's all they
can think about, nothing else matters.
Everyone's wide awake but looks incredibly
tired.
A song for today: "Coffee and TV" by Blur
Works Cited
Blur. "Coffee and TV." 13, Parlophone, 1999.
Tate, James (1943-2015). "A New Lifestyle." Writersalmanac.org. https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2007%252F03%252F01.html. Accessed 20 May 2020.
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