on clouds of coffee
DESCRIPTION
Life, love and good coffeeTRANSCRIPT
On Clouds of Coffee
Sharonlee Goodhand
Life, Love, Poetry and Good Coffee
On Clouds of Coffee
My thoughts drift
on aromatic waves
of morning coffee
rising with the steam…
clouds
float in before
my silently
watching eyes…
a damp grey
ambience
permeates
the day
curling around
my inner thoughts
like shadows
of a half remembered dream…
thoughts I share
with no one
in the absence
of a mind and heart
that listens
with intent
to the echoes
behind
my words…
4 AM
4 am
a sense of wakefulness
invades my sleep…
tossing restlessly
I scrunch down
into feathered doona
willing oblivion to return
but no…
a passing thought
brings to mind
arms that no longer cradle me
in soft sighs of comfort…
… I give up in the end
and rise
from sleep-rumpled bed
drifting to the darkened window
…the world sleeps
at least
the part that I can see
seems silenced
cloaked in darkness…
no traffic rumbles on the
distant highway
no sign of human
existence
the night is still
unmoving
and unmoveable
no stars
to keep me company…
…padding in soft socks
through my home
I make coffee
quietly
as if reluctant to disturb
the sleeping
..no one here
to hear me
still my actions
are purposely muffled…
… returning to the window
I see nothing
but shadow-trees
and ghostly streetlights…
coffee hot & strong & sweet
I smoke
searching the net for something
… someone
contact…
I chat with a stranger
half way round the world
who sits in a cyber cafe
… while I sit
in my dim silent apartment
and wait for the birth
of a new day…
Unseen
rain
soft & light
played with the silent night
morning still slept
in glistening shadows
as my thoughts
played with my inner dreams…
silver slivers
shimmering as the predawn
luminescence
softened
sable edges
night merging into day…
rain crystallised
against
sombre shades…
my thoughts wandered
as thoughts are known to do
in hours as silent
and muted as this…
floating out
over the convoluted shadows
that hid the harsher
contours
of community coexistence…
…I watched the dawn twilight
searching
for that point in time
where night gives way to day
brooding over other moments
wondering when and how
I lost them…
I dissected other
points in time
trying to find
the diamond-sharp instant
that transforms
one intersecting moment
into another…
coffee rich and fragrant
warm hands & heart
as dawn-glow
finally softened the sky
the rain stopped
silence, deep and profound
encircled me
in an undemanding embrace
a cold moist breeze
chilled unseen tears
as my world woke
to a cloud filled day….
Sharonlee©
Light of a Single Candle
I sit by candle light
..the night is late
and dark
no moon…no stars
street lights hazy
within persistent rain…
… cold coffee my only friend
in the end
when all color has been
leached from the day…
the single candle
illuminates
my page
and a small corner
of the room…
shadows
in the far reaches
crowd in
as if in need of company
on this damp dark night…
my thoughts
have somewhat mellowed
… I chatted with a friend
in nights softened gloom
who spoke with gentle tone
of life and love and soul’s unease…
spoke of one’s inability
to change
what was not in their power
to change…
of acceptance
and nurturing
and moving on…
I soaked in these words of wisdom
…thinking long and deep
about life and love
and hopes and dreams…
the extremes
of human nature
the fragilities
of the human condition…
and as the single candle
burned low
confident of its role
and purpose
I pondered
on my own….
sharonlee©
Coffee-Colored Reflections
there are times...
midnights passing with no sleep
rain-filled days where my thoughts
meander throu the years
silent sunlit moments
that catch me
in a patch of warmth...
random times when
reflections tumble in on recollection
when sepia memories
tap at the core
of my bruised spirit...
times when I feel
uplifted by a birds graceful flight
by the moon's passage throu the night...
there are times when
my feet long to walk
my eyes long to see
my hands long to touch
my body longs to feel
another body...
times where I am content
nay...more than content
to be alone
to gaze in silent reflection
at the never-ending expanse of sky
the trees...the rain...
content to be alone...
times when a strong coffee
is my only friend
when life seems too short
or to have no end...
times when the silence is too loud
Or when sound seems forgotten to my ears
times when I wonder on too many whys
and ponder too many why nots
there are times I remember well
and those I have forgot...
there are times when I am soothed
by the beauty of the world
or burdened
by global strife...
these times...
these times are called life;
sharonlee©
Prompted By The Rain
what is it about the rain
that mellows my spirit...
what unseen force does it wield
that brings forth convoluted recollections
that move with slow-motion deliberation
prompting me to stop and gaze
lost in thoughtful musings...
why do I feel secure...comfortable...safe
at home
when the rain tumbles from the sky
and thunder rumbles from unseen heights...
why do I find the rain so soothing
so alluring...so tempting
content to let my thoughts
wander throu the otherworldly realm
of my mind...
copious cups of coffee my only demand
as I let my inner thoughts hold sway
drifting throu a rainy day
drifting to the melody
of rain on the old tin roof
content beyond all measure
to just sit...
what is it about the rain
that mellows my spirit...
sharonlee©
Sharonlee Goodhand
A Café Series Always A Window Seat
On Clouds of Coffee – part two- A Café Series
Café, Perth, Australia
wide-eyed fresh faced
not long left home and yet So many miles
I’d put between then and then café in Perth, Australia…
my first cup of coffee… ever…. loaded with sugar
from a bowl that had seen too many spoons…
country girl I was… and timid
not educated in the ways of this world…
oh how big it was! my mind in overdrive
as I tried to process city sights… bright sunshiny city
not harsh like my vague childhood recollections
of my Sydney birthplace…
coffee was…. interesting first & last I’d thought at the time
as I sat gazing out a window half devoted to cola adverts… … I pondered what taste cola represented… having never tried it … it seemed to me to have the look of sarsaparilla
…I’d tried that once… too strong for my unsophisticated pallet…
the city unfolded ‘round me growing bigger … oblivious
to the older style café that huddle mid-way
between yesterday and tomorrow… … it made me sad to think
that one day the café would be gone pulled down in favour of storied offices
and some bright and sunny sandwich bar
that sold coffee in waxed cups just like newer style roadhouses now did…
I drained my coffee
… not so bad after all I’d thought back then, rejuvenated
by caffeine and five sugars I ventured out…
a new life awaited… beyond the doors
of a café, Perth, Australia; early 1978 sharonlee©
Café, Melbourne, Australia
sitting in a coffee shop in Melbourne Australia…
… neon splashes mirrored in puddles… I sat lost in thought -
- café almost empty this time of night.. city lights
diffused by rain…
… at the old Formica counter the greying owner tapped his pen
a hollow sound that penetrated deep… … I longed for him to stop… but said nothing focused instead on the soothing drum of rain
… mesmerised by circles within circles as the rain bounced
into tar coloured puddles…
counting coins … small piles of small denominations
added up… in the end… to another cup and a toasted cheese sandwich… … broke until the bank opened in a time before plastic cards…
shift workers from a nearby factory
tumbled in… … they looked weary
and carried with them the aroma of cereal or biscuits…
huddled together they drank coffee and joked with the grey-haired
barista owner… familiar scene re-enacted every night…
… I stood to go
shouldering an over-large pack portable radio dangling from limp arm…
I paused at the door … rain plummeted …. thrashing
the pavement ricocheting up to rain back down…
I sighed…
hey lov… you at the door I looked over my shoulder… not sure…
coffee on the house lov ? he smiled my smile reflected heartfelt relief … thanks…
… vulnerability – - his warm & grandfatherly…
old blue eyes now fading to grey, twinkled as he waved me back to the window table…
no older then my granddaughter, he sighed, she’s out there somewhere…. somewhere…
sadness clouded his face as he poured coffee I thanked him softly
and turned to gaze at a night filled with rain in a café, Melbourne, Australia; late 1978.
sharonlee©
6/10/11
Café, Sydney, Australia
window-seat …always a window-seat…
coffee shop, Sydney, Australia… a sea of faces streaming past outside behind me a low murmur of voices
lunch-time crowd surging in regular as clock-work…
scratchy radio announcing a hot day in the city
leave your brollies at home folks and he laughed at his own lame joke…
I tried to cross my legs… but couldn’t
pregnant belly a cumbersome monstrosity the baby moved… a girl… I just knew it…
no you’re not, I whispered… not a monstrosity but what am I ‘spose to do… I’m trapped in this city
we’re both trapped in this city… … somewhere a child wailed
as if in response to my thoughts …you & me both kid, I mumbled softly
with twisted humour - - it was a big city to be alone in…
intercity busses blocked the view
of intercity buildings cranes to the left erecting still more…
a siren screamed blur of police cars jetting past
like smeared ribbons of blue & white pedestrians jumping clear
before swelling to fill the crossing as if nothing happened…
… but something had happened somewhere…
another pile-up another homeless
dead in a back street… another junkie
overdosed in an abandoned squat…
the baby moved again
mesmerised I watched a vaguely foot shaped lump protrude from my soft young flesh…
draining my cup I turned again to gaze at foreign city scenes
and wondered just how I came to be in this place….
and where did I go from here - - a window-seat view of the world
…always a window-seat… café , Sydney, Australia; 1980.
sharonlee©
6/10/11
Café , Airlie Beach, Australia
coffee floating in fragrant clouds swirling between me & a window with a view
a coffee shop Airlie Beach, Australia… …strangest sense of déjà vu
other windows… other towns coffee – good…bad… sublime ….
I gaze at the ocean scene
distant mountains islands floating in tropical waves… palm trees standing coast-watch
lined the grass that bordered the sand… behind me somewhere murmured appreciation
damn good coffee…. I smiled, yes it was, I thought…
…soft and gentle moments
drifted back to me… coffee shops along life’s highway…
… beyond the window sidewalk tables filled
with jostling movement… tourists in summer hats
and winter socks … a young couple
barely 20… with backpacks and local maps –
- fresh-faced… bright eyed so full of bubbling adventure…
untraveled horizons
reflected in their youth…
I sat and gazed… the sea … the sand rippling palms
… seagulls… unafraid wait for fallen scraps… I felt my age
understood the softness of errant thoughts that niggled at heart & soul…
… and I smiled – - it has been a good life
despite those raw moments when even coffee offered
no comfort…
I am me… strong… wise… lived in…
comfortable with my edges and curves…
at ease with my thoughts and flaws…
proud of the woman I have become…
window seat… fragrant coffee a café in Airlie Beach, Australia; 2011.
sharonlee©
6-Oct-11
All Poetry
Herein
Written by
Sharonlee
Goodhand
©2012