An ode to
those coffee cups 
the chipped and 
mismatched ones whose 
set has long 
ago gone missing 
to the stragglers 
that are never 
strangers to the 
ones left behind 
testaments of other 
times some better 
and some worse 
and after all 
aren’t we too
just hand me 
downs once used
but never forgotten 

I wish I knew 
because I’d bottle it 
and give it away 
to every high school 
what makes a school 
keep its students friends 
even after fifty years 
just what is it 
that keeps us all 
the way we were
back then long ago 
that keeps us together 
and laughing and smiling 
and saying I will 
see you after school 

I noticed that 
I sigh deeply 
after I write 
it’s as though 
my body says 
this is enough 

Sometimes I imagine 
the train whistle 
in the distance 
is a boat
in a harbor 
and sometimes I 
imagine a train 
choo chooing along 
and sometimes I 
even imagine it’s 
a horn warning 
beware of rocks 
I’m not sure 
if it’s night 
that does this 
or dreams I
remember when I 
was a child 
but imagine I
did do must

I have 
finally found 
my way 
into the 
mirror and 
took my
rightful place 
alongside my 
own reflection 
and oh
we are 
having a 
wonderful time