1 Cracks in the cup crawl through my brain

   setting off sparks

   electrical overloads

   I never can get this glued back together enough

   to stop the sparks

 

2 Cups hold all of the universe

   cradled galaxies

   moons in orbit bumping the rim

   stars spill over

 

3 wrapping my hands around the warm cup

   gentle scent of honey and chamomile

   my tongue is burnt

   by the amber liquid

   humming to myself in my cozy corner

 

4 I can see the sculptor’s hands

   when I touch the cup

   fingerprints remain

   from long lines held steady

   as the vessel took shape

 

5 I walked into the Cannon Brew Pub

   with the need for whiskey

   Tyson Anthony held up the bottle

   my personal cup in hand

   I raised my thumb

   he poured

   my cup now filled with the required drink

   by the time I sat at the bar

 

6 Cups hold nothing

   not even air to breathe with

   not even space to live in

   not even sound

   everything leaks out

   spills out

   trips out

   and slips away

 

7 Except

   cups do hold my love

   when nothing else will

 

8 The cups are lined up on the window

   that has never seen a defenestration

   Probably for best as

   we are on the ground floor

   Does yeeting cups out a window though

   count as a defenestration?

 

9 I have cups and therefore I am sick

   I have cups with which to have tea

   I often only have tea when sick

   If I didn’t have cups

   maybe I wouldn’t get sick

   as there would be no need for tea

   Can you tell I’m sick right now?

 

10 Autistics have hyperfixations

    They make them happy

    They are their special subjects

    Upon finding another with the same special subject

    it is less like a competition

    and more like the last geek on earth finding the only other last geek

    Who knew anyone else would have a hyperfixation around cups???

 

11 The blue cup of memory

    slides along the counter to me

    My dad’s coffee cup

    is full of hot coffee

    that I poured from the pot

    and balanced all the way down

    the hallway

    without spilling a drop

    for the first time

    at age 9

 

12 Shards of porcelain litter the floor

    I smile

    years of stained porcelain

    now useless

    scattered on the linoleum

    looks so very pretty

 

13 I grabbed the blue coffee cups

    I was going to wrap them in newspaper

    but I threw them to the ground

    listened to their cracking and splitting

    each blast more satisfying than the last

 

14 Kiel watched like he often does

    sipping on a glass of whiskey and coke

    He looks like he should be sitting at the Cannon

    laughing with Tyson across the bar

    like he often used to do

    Now he’s just staring at the constellations of porcelain shards on the floor

 

15 “You know it’s not right now,” he says

    I nod

    “But it will be soon.  And I don’t want them.”

    “I doubt he will care about coffee cups when he’s gone

    but mother will, and we must think of her.”

    I drop my head

    This satisfying collection of coffee cup shards

    will only live in my head

 

16 Tiny shards twinkle in the dust pan

     catching the light

     then losing it again

     slide into the trash

 

17 The shards of the cups of

     the memories of the house of

     the wizard of the woods of

     the enchantress of the books of

     the story never told of

     the past that still holds of

     the curse that follows us all

 

18 Schissa

 

19 The vibrations from the people in the house

     make the little cups click together

     Their tiny reverberations

     sing of emptiness

 

20 Stars spill out of the cracks

     in the coffee cup

     as it sings of lost days

     when it wished to be held