Tensions Over Steaming Coffee © Nithya Raghavan

I fill the vessel,
let the water boil
par its routine temperature,
let the sweaty stress

pluck my eyebrows. Time
stooped to conquer its speed
in a grandfather’s clock.
We travel through those

tense steams emerging
out of hot cups of
coffee. Is this how
we break up? Our

years of togetherness puke
out its figurative journey
over our trembling emotions
and diseased words.

All our issues scuttle our
hairs, scatter tensions
over the table. The metro
trundles past Navi

Mumbai, past our good
old times cropped by
frustration. Seemingly
unbelievable, our relationship

picked us up on a conversation
over steaming coffee and
dropped us back
where we began…

Nithya Raghavan

Raghavan is an Indian poet. 

Originally published in Femficātiō on November 31st, 2013