As hard as I try, I can never —

          take myself out of the equation —

                    out of the script —

The page crumpled —

           discarded on the floor —

                   waste basket missed again —

Too short —

           my stretch to find the perfect —

                   something —

Desperately switching —

          from Pen and paper –

                    to speeches spat out —

Hot coffee —

          scalding my mouth —

                   words change everything between us —

This morning words play hide and seek in the mist —

           obscured by low hanging clouds —

                    Until coffee is brewed —

The sound of it —

           rushes in my veins —

                      Neither food nor sustenance —

It focuses me —

            Like the sun reaching out —

                      touching each leaf, each bough —

Until I am of this world again.

Alyse Sammarco
June 4, 2021