Thursday, July 23, 2020

Poetry Friday: Masks, and Fauci, and Coffee, Oh, My

Sooooo, I've posted a few times recently about masks on Facebook because, well, mask-wearing during a pandemic is just good scientific sense, and Anthony Fauci is my man.

Thanks, Jama Rattigan, for leading us to the bobblehead

(And no, I don't care how he throws a baseball.)

This mask is your basic, utilitarian pandemic gear:



However, my pal Tabatha (of The Opposite of Indifference fame) sent a link to a mask that she said made her think of me. (And with friends like Tabatha, one needn't worry about the friends on Facebook who have unfriended one for talking about masks.) 

Who could have imagined a mask that combines allusions to Gregorian chant, Psalm 130, and coffee? Someone did. And their "Out of the Depths I Have Cried for Coffee" mask reminded me of an ode to coffee that I wrote a few years ago. (My daughters mock me for calling 13-year chunks of time "a few years," but oh, just wait, daughters. Someday you'll understand the wibbly-wobbly that is time.) 

And so, with Poetry Friday just 45 minutes away as I type this, I give you my love song to coffee: 


How Do I Love Thee, Coffee? Let Me Count the Ways
(with my sincere apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning ....)
by Karen Edmisten 

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My cup can reach.

I love thee to the level of every day's
most quiet need (which is to start the day with you.)

I love thee freely (as I strive to awaken.)
I love thee purely (as one who is addicted.)
I love thee with a passion (which is embarrassing.)

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
when I was pregnant
and had morning sickness,
but my love is so strong
it was reclaimed when all sickness had passed.

I love thee with the breath (though coffee breath be not pleasant)
with the Smiles, tears, of all my life!

and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death,
for surely there is coffee in Heaven.

~~~~~~~~~~


20 comments:

Linda Mitchell said...

Ha! I read this while sipping my coffee! Well done...AND fun. Double success! I do love how embarrassing passion is. Me too.

Tabatha said...

Ha ha! Glad my timing was good :-) Anybody who would unfriend you over masks is whack. I just finished my coffee before I got to your post, but you are making me want another cup. (Also, I follow JesusofNaz316 on Twitter and he says, "Anyone making fun of Dr. Fauci's first pitch will be cast into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.")

Karen Edmisten said...

Thanks, Linda! Happy to share a cup of coffee with you this morning. :)

Karen Edmisten said...

Your timing, as always, was impeccable. :) And, ha! I'm with JesusofNaz316! :)

Mary Lee said...

What a perfection of mask + poem! Well-played by the both of you!

Mary Lee said...

I had to come back and say how much I love "the wibbly-wobbly that is time."

#truth

Karen Edmisten said...

Thanks, Mary Lee! :)

Karen Edmisten said...

I, of course, stole "wibbly wobbly" from the Doctor. :)

Janice Scully said...

Coffee is a wonderful thing. I'm lately switched to strong tea and find it provides a similar "passion" that coffee does now that I'm used to it. Though I never would have believed it. I'm sure EB Browning would be flattered if she could read your poem.

Margaret Simon said...

I recently had a stomach bug so I am working back up to my previous coffee habit. Love your witty poem. We need a sense of humor to help us get back to school life. Is that really a Fauci Bobblehead?

laurasalas said...

Hahaha--I hate coffee, but your poem made me laugh. And that's *always* welcome!

Karen Edmisten said...

Janice, thanks. :) My husband switched to tea a few years ago and now he's passionate about it, too. He, too, wouldn't have predicted that!

Margaret, oh, those stomach bugs can wreak havoc with the love of coffee. Yes, it's really a Fauci bobblehead! I gave it to my husband after seeing it on Jama's blog. :)

Laura, so happy to share a laugh with you today. :)

author amok said...

I'm laughing about the coffee breath -- with a mask on, yikes!! Great idea to write a "let me count the ways" poem for things that have comforted us during the pandemic. Blueberry tea is my go-to.

Ramona said...

I'm also not a coffee drinker, but I could write an ode to chocolate! What a kick to read about all the ways you love and need coffee. And 13 years is definitely a few years. I looked for a poem I thought I shared recently. It was five years ago!

Fred said...

Karen, I have been up since 4:30 and I am on my second cup.

There are many great lines in this poem, but I loved your remark in the build-up about "the wibbly-wobbly that is time."

What makes this poem so cool is your combination of wit, intelligence, and insight into the commonplace.

Amy and I miss you and Tom and wish you the best always! Tell Tom Go Bears! if the Bears go, which I doubt, and also what I always tell him about the Yankees.

I am going to keep reading your blog. Your writing was a wonderful way to help start my Sunday morning.

Molly Hogan said...

How do I love this post? In so many ways! I love the connection with Tabatha, the "wibbly wobbly that is time", the love song to coffee and the humor within. Fabulous! Also,the bobble head of Fauci is the BEST. I think I may create a Fauci shrine...

Carol Varsalona said...

Karen, mask-wearing is in vogue on Long Island but it is reported that after 6 pm the beach we love is filled with 20 somethings who disregard the mask ruling, congregate in large numbers, and cause essential workers grief from the number of saves that are needed. I wonder if they are pumped up with a caffeine high or are just inconsiderate of others. I do like your coffee poem so thanks for sharing.

Karen Edmisten said...

Laura, blueberry tea? That sounds ode-worthy!
Ramona, I'm with you on the ode to chocolate. Always. Intensely. And glad to know I'm not alone in my perception of "a few."
Fred, how wonderful to hear from you here. You are too kind. We miss you guys, too. I regularly tell Tom, "You need to go read Fred's latest Facebook post."(He's not on FB, so he has to sneak in on my page.) I think he already knows what you always say about the Yankees. ;)
Molly, thanks for all the love, and send me pictures of your Fauci shrine! :)
Carol, well, that is truly disheartening but, sadly, not surprising. I am glad to hear that mask-wearing is otherwise in vogue on Long Island.

Karen Edmisten said...

P.S. to Fred: You should know that all my best stuff is stolen. "Wibbly-wobbly" originated with the Doctor. :)

Michelle Kogan said...

Your entire post has me smiling :) Love the ending to your poem, and my husband a morning coffee-er would love it too. But I must admit I'm smiling most from the Dr's "wibbly-wobbly" take on time, wonderful, thanks! PS your mask brought me over-great pic!