Cups
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