Things To Do When Taking Tea (WC)

 

(Wendy Cabell, published in Writers At Play Presents: Our Legacy, edited by Daisy Barrett-Nash, Equal Arts, 2022. From September 22, 2021, Autumn Equinox, second day of Sukkot, feast day of  The Hearer Icon of the Mother of God, of (above) Saint Gunthildis, and of Saint Basilia. Image from here.)

Things To Do When Taking Tea

Only in the awareness of the present, 

can your hands feel the pleasant warmth of the cup.

Only in the present, can you savor...-Thich Nhat Hanh

1. Know that Mother’s milk takes many forms. 

2. Turn over your leaf, herb of choice

3. Place in your empty vessel. 

4. See water’s catch of Light as bring to boil.

5. Pour over 

       your herb,

         to soften, 

             let flow

               its juice.

 

       6. Fill cup. Drink this, 

             and only this, in

this moment. 

*From prompt of crafting an advice poem: choosing a favorite activity/lesson, choosing six verbs and heading a sentence/point with each one, noting what lines stand out and fine-tuning for deeper sensory detail and use of metaphor/similie. From Daisy Barrett-Nash's Legacy Poetry, September 15 and 22, 2021.