The Old Coffee Maker

The automatic coffee maker
is so old that mosquito eggs
float on the top of my coffee.
I drink it anyway and wait
for them to hatch. When
they start to bite I reach
into my belly with the hand
that has no solid form,
pull them out, wing by wing.

It is not always possible
to get them all. They bite,
lay eggs inside of me. At
times when I speak they
fly from my throat, seek
the nearest target.

One day I will buy a new
coffee maker. I will run
vinegar through it to keep
it clean. Maybe the mosquitoes
will leave my stomach then.

I suppose that I will be
an easier person to talk
with when that day comes.

I saw a wasp buzzing
around my coffee this
morning. Wasps are
harder to swallow.

If a wasp flies from
my mouth when I talk
I shall speak no more,
at least until I get a
new coffee machine.

 

Marc D. Goldfinger has been published by the Ibbetson Street Press, The
Aurorean, Liberation Poetry Collective, Pegasus, the Boston Poet, the Crooked River Press, EarthFirst!, Clamor, The New Renaissance, User’s News, Poiesis and many others. He is currently the poetry editor and a regular columnist for the Spare Change News, a paper put out for the benefit of homeless people. He is a counselor for people with Substance Use Disorders. He is a member of The Road Scribes Of America. Marc has 3 books for sale at www.Smashwords.com and can also be found at www.sparechangenews.net.

Fabio Sassi makes photos and acrylics using what is considered to have no worth by the mainstream. He often puts a quirky twist to his subjects or employs an unusual perspective that gives a new angle of view. Fabio lives in Bologna, Italy.