Every Day Poems will turn fifteen on May 5th.
Some of you have been helping us think about ways to celebrate. (If you haven’t shared your ideas yet, there’s still time before the big day!)
One idea from a long-time reader of Every Day Poems, Maureen Doallas, was to “warm up the pot and make tea.”
What better way to do that than to get bubbling with 15 Tea Poem favorites?
From the archives, then, 15 tea poem faves featured through favorite lines…
15 of Our Favorite “Every Day Poems” that Feature Tea
- “home to more
tea, a stillness after the war,
bitterness softened by cream”(read all of A Stillness of Tea, a cento poem by Glynn Young)
- “The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos,
the fountains are bubbling with delight”(read all of [meanwhile], a found poem from the words of Okakura Kakuzo)
- “There are realms
of deliciousness”(read all of English Breakfast, a found poem from the words of Henrietta Lovell)
- “Though I cannot flee
from the world
of corruption,
I can prepare tea”
(read all of [though I cannot flee], a found poem from the words of Ueda Akinara)
- “The kettle bubbled,
The coals glowed”(read all of LuYu Visits a Tea Water Well, by Tu Hsiao Shan)
- “I can fill a cup with yes”
(read all of Full, by Sarah Etlinger)
- “Sell me your tea by the ship load”
(read all of The Commerce of Tea, a cento poem by Glynn Young)
- “I need not strain to decipher”
(read all of Tea, No Sympathy, by Maureen Doallas)
- “She wishes
a wish of time, when nights end just
just like this, with a cup of tea and
poetry”(read all of Tea and the Nightingale, a cento poem by Glynn Young)
- “Now is the time for silence
of recognition”(read all of Tea, by Sandra Marchetti)
- “a day without obligations
slivers of silver spilling from the shades”(read all of Waking Without Alarm, by Karen Paul Holmes)
- “my grandmother showed me
how to stir the sugar in my glass of hot tea”(read all of Hot Tea, by Lahab Assef Al-Jundi)
- “I swam in lychee blossom, green-leaf
wrapped against the currents”(read all of I spilled cinnamon tea, a cento poem by Glynn Young)
- “the teapot is behind you”
(read all of [find yourself a cup], a found poem from the words of Saki)
- “if only I hear
the expectant cup”(read all of Li Po, by L.L. Barkat)
Do you have a favorite tea poem you’ve read here at Every Day Poems? (Or, if your hot drink of choice is coffee, a favorite coffee poem?)
Whatever you warm up to celebrate while you eat your birthday cupcakes, we’re happy to read along.
—As always,
L.L. Barkat
Founder of Every Day Poems
Featured photo by Ana Tavares, Creative Commons, via Unsplash.
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Glynn says
It’s now hibiscus,
swirling red, liquid
magenta with a slice
of lemon, sweetened,
not with sugar, but
with something
sweet and low,
a fragrance and
taste of flowers
and sunshine
but never regret.