Having a Starbucks Coffee with You
by David Colodney
is even more fun than writing a poem based on poems by two of my favorite poets
who wrote love poems to lovers both men who rescued them from flames
and restored their faith in love and happiness and blah blah blah but my poem
is about a woman who restored my faith that “the one”
exists and the search for “the one” should never be abandoned
which is something I always held close
but never wanted to write about because love poems remind me of lame Hallmark cards
on grocery store shelves, but I decided I wanted to try and write a love poem to you because
the first time I kissed you we were walking too closely into a Starbucks and
partly because kissing you is even more fun than today than it was that morning
partly because drinking coffee with you regardless of time of day is more socially
acceptable than drinking gin and tonics in the backyard in the morning and coffee
holds us over until it’s time to drink wine at night
partly because Lana Turner would have been discovered by a barista in Hollywood
had there been Starbucks and ventis in the days she was alive marrying seven different
men eight different times looking for the one and ultimately giving up
but you can never doubt her chutzpah
partly because the black spaghetti-strap and jeans you wore this morning
as I kissed you good-bye as we were leaving our house
to go to work as we petted our dog good-bye as we dropped our kids off
at school as we started our day with a kiss and a coffee
partly because I remember that first kiss even though it’s been years that kiss
was a leap of faith and not at all premeditated I hoped you wouldn’t smack
me or push me away but instead you kissed me back
partly because coffee has never tasted the same since that day and never
tasted as sweet even if there are three Splendas or six Sugars in the Raw
partly because it wasn’t really your clothes
I was interested in but what lay beneath them your olive skin
your feel your smell your touch but really what was beneath even all that
I really wanted
and it’s been years and I’m realizing now O’Hara’s lovers failed him
and Frank never found real love before he died maybe that’s why he died
Gyroscope Review 2! 0