Coffee Cup To-Go

Coffee cup to-go

As simple as
A recyclable paper cylinder
Crowned in a plastic helmet
With one spout of an opening
as if to represent sea mammals
up late studying
Now tepid and more than half-empty
Easy to pick up
With hardly a risk of spilling
for any land-dwelling primate
By the gown of its paper frock
That not too long ago
insulated once-steamy
Coffee, by now serving only to
Advertise in bold font
a well-known author
Appearing in our small town
Who knows where
I don’t care-
I came here for the coffee
to wake up from despair

Ragged

look at that one... Ragged.
taken for a stroll. dragged along the road.
is it allowed to hope?
does it have time to despair?
look at that one... ragged.

that one has suffered, yeah...
scolded by an iron rod, chastised with a rough leather strap,
you can tell it felt like smashed porcelain,
from its baggy eyes.
yeah that one has suffered.

does that one hurt? is it numb?
stumbled many a mile on those clanging heels,
oh, that one is well-traveled,
been to places a nightmare would not conjure up.
was it stung? or is it numb?

will it find a bed?
and rest in slumber. one night
without being chased out from its covers?
will it find what it yearns for?
will it find its home?
won’t they take it in, this love?

look at that one... Ragged.
taken for a stroll. dragged along the road.
is it allowed to hope?
does it have time to despair?
look at that one... ragged.