Congratulations to Martha Krystaponis Wingfield for winning the first ever Pascal’s Coffee House Poetry Contest. Folks from Gainesville and beyond sent in great poems, and our esteemed panel of judges chose the author of “My Husband’s Coffee” to receive a Pascal’s Coffee House mug and some coffee of her own.
My Husband’s Coffee
I have wondered if my husband loves his coffee
more than his wife. Some mornings, he looks—
not into my bleary eyes—but into the gleaming
trickle of our coffeepot. He needs his coffee
to see the dust motes
dancing in the morning sunlight; two cups to make
his smile authentic; perhaps three and
a ginger scone to fill him with strength.
Coffee is his own version of Popeye’s spinach.
I simply want to be near him.
His masculine smell fills my belly with a clean
silent strength, more than the aroma of roasted beans.
He makes me feel like I am the wind—there is singing
in my pores, in my veins.
-Martha Krystaponis Wingfield
Copyright © Martha Krystaponis Wingfield 2011 All Rights Reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced without written consent from the author.