Poetry in a Chest of Tea: Telephone

"There is a great deal of poetry in a chest of tea." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

What I'm Reading:

Poetry July/August 2014

(a publication of the Poetry Foundation)

(Cover Art by Tony Fitzpatrick

"The Atomic Oriole," 2014)

A Little Taste to Share:

"Telephone" by Devin Johnston

"A mockingbird

perched on the hood

of a pay phone

half-buried in a hedge

of wild rose

and heard it ring

"The clapper ball

trilled between

brass gongs

for two seconds

then wind

and then again

"With head cocked

the bird took note

absorbed the ringing

deep in its throat

and frothed

an ebullient song

"The leitmotif

of bright alarm

recurred in a run

from hawk

to meadowlark

from May to early June

"The ringing spread

from syrinx to syrinx

from Kiowa

to Comanche to Clark

till someone

finally picked up

"and heard a voice

on the other end

say Konza

or Consez or Kansa

which the French trappers

heard as Kaw

"which is only the sound

of a word for wind

then only the sound of wind"

Check out this link with the poem I featured, as well as some extra information! You can also browse the Poetry Foundation website for more great poems and features.

What I'm Drinking:

Miss Elizabeth by Bingley's Teas Ltd

(loose-leaf tea)

Description from Bingley's Teas: "A black tea for her strong character, sassy cranberry, and blue mallow for her fine eyes, tempered with a sweetness and more as our heroine is unlike any other and most deserving of a very special blend!" Since it mentioned notes of cranberry (which is usually a pretty strong flavor), I expected more fruitiness from this tea. Still really good. I did taste the cranberry a little more when the tea was really hot and, later, really cold, so I may just need to steep it longer to get the same flavor level when it's warm. I'll try that next time and give you an update. I received this as a Christmas gift (I'm sure you can tell I had a great Christmas) from my mom, and she actually gave me the Pride and Prejudice Anniversary Notions Sampler. At the time of her purchase, Bingley's Mr. Darcy tea was only available for purchase as part of this sampler, and she said she couldn't think about buying any of the Pride and Prejudice teas for me without that one. You can't say she doesn't know her daughter well!

Something on the Side:

Of course, my "Miss Elizabeth" tea wouldn't be the same without my Jane Austen Literary Mug from The Unemployed Philosophers Guild. I love this mug! It's large, heavy, and beautiful. I also have their First Lines of Literature Mug and the Literary Transport Pride and Prejudice Mug tucked away in my cabinet. I'm a bit of a mug collector, if you couldn't tell. And while scanning some websites today, I found this Jane Austen Mug from The Literary Gift Company, which is so fun!