Sumatra (a prose poem) by Chelsea Lowery

Hello and welcome to my latest poem, Sumatra! This was a poem I was assigned in my poetry workshop class I’m currently taking. My professor proposed the idea that maybe it’s actually an ode to coffee- one of life’s greatest gifts. Perhaps it is, as I love it so!

Coffee to me, is a liquid day dream. It’s a time to savor. To romanticize the day, a moment, a place. Including all the ones I have yet to experience. Well, there’s my intro- hopefully you’re a coffee lover too! (If not, I’m sorry but I don’t think we’ll work out!)

yours, Belle

Sumatra

My tongue dances with the tan liquid reprieve. It’s warm woody depths take me to that bungalow I’ve never stepped foot in—but visited many a time. The incandescent logs scantly pulsating in their chamber, the morning sky shapeshifting from navy to robin. You, still tucked in the flannel sheets, me, in my underwear. In your sweater. Near the window, watching the me peeking through the emerging clouds. We smile. She has something I don’t. You? The bungalow? Understanding? She sips from a large mug, not breaking eye contact. She’s trying to give me something. Peace of mind, I think. She knows how I’ve longed to inhabit her. She shrugs. The clouds throw me back. I’m in Brooklyn again. The coffee has run out. 

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