Coffee

I measure out
the spoon of sugar,
scoop of powder
silken as breath,
stir the mixture on the stove,
its thick smell
already rising.

I am making coffee
in my new pot that is either
an ibrik or an imrik.
I may be making s’rj or kahve
in a cezva or a jesveh--
hard to say.

The choreography’s precise,
identical no matter what the tongue:
dark roiling to the top,
three times the charm,
careful not to let it boil over,
this sweet and bitter drink
with many names, with none.

This perfect cup, ownedby each armed square of land,
holds the scent of scimitars and
cardamom, dust and blood.

Turkish, Armenian,
Armenian, Turkish,
minefield of an order,
could as well be Arab and
Israeli, English and Irish,
Bosnian and Serb, Moabite
and Midianite. You can read
your fortune in the grounds.

My book, Afterwords, is a collection of poems about loss and the journey back. The writer Ken Foster has said there may be just one universal story: somebody lost something. Afterwords, too, tells a story of loss, but these poems are reminders that the "afterwords" can also speak of surviving with what remains. Click here to read reviews and excerpts from Afterwords.

CenterPiece is a one-person play I have written and that I perform. It looks at the patchwork of life experiences we all share, from assimilating out family legends to learning about love and loss to finding our own voices and moving into the center of our lives. Click here for more info.
 

homesteading

lost language

grace

figure and ground

ether

Saturday, April 12, 3pm,
Boston Public Library, Copley Square
National Poetry Month Festival
(annual marathon reading)
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©2004 Ellen Steinbaum

My photo on the home page is by Peter Urban.
The cover of my book, Afterwords, was designed by Kate Misail.
The painting on the cover of the book, which is also pictured on this page, is by Eric Sealine.

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