I do drink coffee — first thing in the morning. It’s basically an excuse to bitter up my dark chocolate almond milk. If I’m at my dad’s, I’ll have one of his lattes (which are better than anyone else’s anywhere). But after I consume one rather large cup, no more coffee for the rest of the day.
Coffee is about getting up, walking the dogs, working out. After I get the kids to school, I start the tea and the poetry. This fall I bought myself an electric kettle. It doesn’t whistle like the old-fashioned kind, but it’s fast. It gives me just enough time to read a poem or two.
My working/writing day starts with poetry and tea. Both take a bit of time. Water must boil. Tea must steep. I read a poem; if it’s a good one, I read it twice. A really good one gets printed. Once I read a poem by Julia Kasdorf and burst into tears. It was like she had been eavesdropping in my living room.
While I write, I drink tea. I simply do not write without tea. I’m one of those people who pairs tastes with activities: Tea goes with writing, writing starts with poetry. It’s a like a triangle with tea at the top, the left corner as poetry, and the right corner as my regular writing.
I don’t write a poem every day, but I write at least one a week in time for my Tuesday poetry group. We are always going through one book or another, and they all have poetry exercises or prompts. Some days a bad poem is all I can manage. Other days I’ll feel stuck, so I’ll turn to Tweetspeak. (Really, I’m not just sucking up!) I’ll play a little with words. Sometimes the poem fails and turns into prose.
Drinking so much tea makes me stand up a lot, either to make more tea or to go to the bathroom. I often have my best ideas walking from one room to the next. I’ll finish a poem, run to the bathroom, have a bright idea, revise the poem, make more tea, tweak the poem, hit save, let the dogs out, drink more tea, fiddle with the line breaks, let the dogs in, revise the poem, drink more tea. Repeat.
I always bring tea to my poetry group in one of my very nice roadies. On a recent Tuesday, there was only one other woman there. I had brought two poems on tea. After reading them aloud, she said she liked this part of one and that part of the other. A few days later, I combined them. I was drinking Tazo’s Joy blend for the holidays.
At Times Like This, Tea
Forget complicated instructions.
Ignore those who say you must try this you
must do that.
Buy tea that sounds yummy. Brew it.
If you like it sweet, add sweet. If you don’t,
don’t. You are not under surveillance by the tea police
as you top your fine English breakfast with Reddi Wip.
Sip.
People across this blue-green world drink with you.
Breathe flavor. Today — Joy.
In a few minutes, the leaves unfurl
and so do I. The laptop anticipates
my next move.
Most days the tea runs out before the words.
Photo by L.L. Barkat. Post by Megan Willome.
__________
“Megan Willome’s The Joy of Poetry is not a long book, but it took me longer to read than I expected, because I kept stopping to savor poems and passages, to make note of books mentioned, and to compare Willome’s journey into poetry to my own. The book is many things. An unpretentious, funny, and poignant memoir. A defense of poetry, a response to literature that has touched her life, and a manual on how to write poetry. It’s also the story of a daughter who loses her mother to cancer. The author links these things into a narrative much like that of a novel. I loved this book. As soon as I finished, I began reading it again.”
—David Lee Garrison, author of Playing Bach in the D. C. Metro
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Will Willingham says
I love the tea-poetry-writing triangle.
It sounds a little like an infographic. 😉
Megan Willome says
Yes. I think you should get busy on that. 🙂
L. L. Barkat says
i second the motion.
After another secret infographic I know you are working on 😉
Louise G. says
I too love the tea-poetry-writing triangle.
It is all so soothing, just like tea.
Ann Kroeker says
Delicious. And now, because I am about to write, I do believe I shall make a pot of tea. Thank you, Megan, for the story behind the poem. I love learning the context and your process.
Megan Willome says
Loving my leaf cup today.
Diana Trautwein says
Love this a lot. And now, I know your secret!! MORE TEA = MORE WRITING. I”m in.
Megan Willome says
Yep. I just gave away the store.
L.L. Barkat says
You bring to life the power of ritual for writing. Oh, I love that (even though I can claim no ritual for my own 🙂 )
Now, as for the poem, this is too fun, including the “ip” rhymes…
“You are not under surveillance by the tea police/
as you top your fine English breakfast with Redi Whip./
Sip.”
laura says
I’m on lunch at work (which is a time I adore reading your poems) and now am in a conundrum because I want tea. There is a coffee shop downstairs…I wonder if they have tea? A microwave might have to do, but it is cold here–the cold snap has snupped–and tea seems like a good way to warm from the inside out.
Megan Willome says
You can boil water in a microwave. If the coffee shop has a tea bag, you’re in business.
But seriously, you made me smile today. Thank you.
JB Wood says
Megan, I always love your writing and your poetry. And such a lovely glimpse here into your writing/tea/poetry triangle philosophy! I am personally not a tea-drinker (am I banned?) but rather a coffee snob. My triangle is more like Coffee-Writing-Random Shuffle. Yes, writing goes with music, and that’s all there is to it. And if I can write and drink coffee and have the earbuds on all at once, well, time pretty much stops in its tracks for me.
Megan Willome says
Thank you, Jim.
I think that whatever triad works for you, works for you. I had a professor who would start every class by reading the writing rituals of various authors. It showed that there are as many ways to write as there are writers.
johnny lyons says
Lovely Megan…
Barry’s Irish Gold or Lyons Green
and a chamber pot-cheers
Robbie Pruitt says
This was a relaxing read. Thank you.
Jennifer says
Loved this! I had a cup of green tea today at a new friend’s house as we put together anti-standardized-testing packets of information for Texas legislators. 🙂
Megan Willome says
Oh, you know how much I love you, especially combining green tea with social action on behalf of kids.
Sandra Heska King says
This nearly made me burst into tears. I haven’t written a poem lately (they’re never as good as yours.) I don’t know why. Maybe I’ve been sipping too much coffee and not enough tea.
I read this twice. And then a third time. I’m going to print it now.
Oh, and the other day… in the coffee shop, there was a notice that a group of peeps were thinking of forming a monthly poetry group to meet at the library. I tore off one of the clipped slips with the contact email and dropped it into my car’s cupholder. Maybe I should fish it out…
Bethany R. says
What a lovely piece and fascinating theme: “Writing Rituals” (I wonder if there’ll be more posts in this vein down the road?). I can relate to sipping and writing (but for me, it usually is a mug of coffee) leading to frequent… breaks. 😉
Isn’t it interesting how the stepping away can mentally clear the board or highlight a new route?
It was also fun to hear a little of your revision process: how you merged portions of two poems into, At Times Like This, Tea. Love that tea police line.
Megan Willome says
I’m not opposed to coffee. I just prefer tea.
My revision process was remarkably simple. I paid attention to what my fellow writer said she liked about both poems and then merged them, with a little fiddling to make it seem coherent. I didn’t realize the two were so similar until they were sitting, printed out, in front of me.
Marilyn Yocum says
Wonderful! I have saved on my computer another of your tea-themed writings that spoke of the importance of letting things steep, at least to me.
Megan Willome says
Marilyn, I should read my own stuff more often. I just today wrote in my journal about the necessity of pauses—steeping, if you will.
Today’s tea, BTW, White Orchard.
Debra Hale-Shelton says
What a delightful essay and poem! It’s always inspiring for me to read about the writing process. And I’d never thought of Reddi Wip with my tea.
Megan Willome says
Thanks, Debra. Tea and poetry are my stalwarts.
Personally, I find the entire idea of Reddi Wip offensive, but the person who recommended it once owned a tea shop, so what do I know.