SNAKESKIN: The Poetry Webzine

Tea

   the poets at the contest drank
              3 cups of wine

        were it tea instead,
   would more wisdom have mixed
              with the obligatory frenzy?

                              *

tea: ceremony of grace...
     calming now to sense
       how stars breathe, how we breathe
              swaying like fronds, like fish
                     stirring the waters.

                             *

   to strivers with great appetite:
      "let it settle"; water's still water,
            whatever the mud mixed in.

        let it settle, let it settle:
               steep, make of silence
                       a tea.

          the sun looks on,
              whatever the weather's been doing.

                             *

                      tea, transparent,
          elegantly poured into worldly cups.

              tea ceremony's exactitude.

           for the proper serving of tea,
                       ah, simply be
                           beautiful.

                             *

    a fine cup of tea,
          a true death poem,
                       much alike:
              suggestive as to scent & flavor,
                   dwelling with us, then gone.

                           *

partake of this scent together, goddess and lover
         who make a human tea
                  brewed from his worship
                          of the delicacy
                                       of her smile.

Barry Spacks

If you've any views about his tea poems, Barry Spacks would like to hear them.