Two Elemental Odes

Ode to Starbucks

Oh Starbucks,
how your sameness evokes memory.
Corporate continuity of experience-
The shareholders
must be so proud.
Storrs, Bloomington, Boston, New York,
every airport,
always tasty coffee
and the heebie-jeebies.
Do these people
desire this pre-fab community?
The elegant corkboard
with its solitary flyer,
A song we all like,
but have not heard for awhile.
I wonder if they fear
the real places, like Soma
and the way the Coffee Garden used to be.

…heh, I guess there could be only one Pablo Neruda. Okay, how about this?

Ode to Bahoo

Oh silken-footed beast,
watchful keeper of our socks,
silent empress of
your mystery.
As a kitten,
we brought you home,
drowsy, bottle-fed and
entirely gray.
As your body grew,
the new spaces emerged
golden beige.
Bahoo,
mottled specter of corners,
master of subtlety,
dusky mote of gentleness,
your footstep is so light
that we notice you
only after you have arrived
and are curled
on our feet.