Read my latest story, "A Tale of Two Birthdays", at 52|250.

Above the Cafe

 darken night with coffee
 don't let the light back in
  with creamer, even soya
  wakes the neighbors & we want
 our moans to take care of that

 don't add any sugar, least of all refined
  we're well past courting
                           or that isn't what I want from you
——pour my midnight brew

add ice if we're already
 sweating too much to hold
 ourselves above each other
 or breathe the other's skin

                             I've set aside two purple trays
                               for caffeinated cubes in case

———good girls are always prepared

Making Coffee

my fingers burned on frayed
circuits in the drip-brew

and too much force of water
steam through used grounds

I give in to richer scents
I give French press a try

select a supple roast
to pour along glass skin

and heat the water by myself
before communion can begin

and when you can’t distinguish us
when our mixture blocks the light

then the pushing can begin
until we’re free of grit & grounds

and we drink our brew together
under cigarettes & a purple duvet

---

written in response to read write prompt #104: how to write the sex poem right, by nick carbó

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harry & louise gave up their garbage disposal for a lens
harry & louise have a real counter w/ fake knives
harry & louise say they’re not the killer
harry & louise throw their papers at the lights
harry & louise know that shrinkage may occur
harry & louise live with fifty cameramen
harry & louise have gotten ink on their dinner
harry & louise know we’re listening to them
harry & louise don’t have a yard for their pines
do harry & louise know a tulip from its stem?
do harry & louise subscribe to the times?
do harry & louise visit tv doctors?
do harry & louise prefer lemon or lime?
do harry & louise believe in use of force?
do harry & louise know what’s happening to them?
do harry & louise have values of the core?
do harry & louise have a schedule of events?
do  harry & louise have a well-aligned spine?
what do harry & louise do on the mend?
what do harry & louise know of organized crime?
what do harry & louise think about the war?
what do harry & louise use for coffee cream?
what do harry & louise need publicity for?
what do harry & louise want us to send?
what do harry & louise think is too far?
what do harry & louise portend?
what do harry louise power with that steam?
harry & louise have policy to bend
do harry & louise have a set a clean?
what do harry & louise have left to endure?
harry & louise feel our pain
do harry & louise share a heart that’s pure?
what do harry & louise do again?

---

As part of Blogathon 2009, I’m posting a poem every half hour for twenty four hours to raise funds for Friends International, an organization that helps street children in Southeast Asia and beyond. Please sign up to sponsor me or donate directly. Everyone who sponsors me will receive a copy of the revised poems as a chapbook if they email their snail mail address to ekswitaj[at]gmail[dot]com. Cheers!

I recently started running again, despite a heat wave, and since my life revolves around writing, I also started thinking about the ways running resembles writing. Here are ten of them:

1. Both are everyday activities, but to say you are a runner or a writer means something more.
2. Both activities have elite practitioners who dedicate their lives, at least for a time, to them, but you don’t have to put in that level of work to benefit from writing or running.
3. Many a high school student is put off these activities by poor instruction. I didn’t experience this with writing, but being berated by a gym teacher who insisted I could go faster if I only tried harder didn’t endear running to me. 
4. Good teachers can surprise students by making them fall in love with either activity. This happened to me when I took a jogging course at Bellevue (née Community) College to fulfill a graduation requirement. 
5. Both can be done naked.
6. Both can be done in elaborate costumes, though these may impair performance.
7. Coffee improves performance.
8. A surprising number of people drink alcohol right before or while writing or running. 
9. Both are more difficult in hot weather.
10. People have been known to collapse at the end of both activities.