RAE’S READS

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This year (2025) finds me with 53 years of teaching “under my belt.” I have taught all levels from pre-K “(library lady” or “book lady”–volunteer) to juniors, seniors, and graduate students enrolled in my Advanced Writing class at the university where I have just completed 34 years. My first paying teaching job was junior high, and I spent 13 years with ages 12-13, the “difficult years.” I had some of the “funnest” experiences with this age group. When I was no longer the “young, fun teacher,” I taught in an elementary school setting before sixth graders went on to junior high, teaching language arts blocs, an assignment that was a “dream-fit” for me. After completing graduate school in my 40s, I went on to community college, then university teaching. This past fall I accepted a part-time teaching job at Apogee Gulf Coast Schools in its first year at the Alvin campus. After my Better Half died n 2022, I achieved a lifelong dream: opening a bookstore of my own, Rae’s Reads. A year later, I sold the house we had lived in for 47 years and moved into the bookstore. My goal is to circulate and repurpose books. Just as teaching is “in my blood,” so is a passion for reading, writing, libraries, and everything bookish. This blog will be open to anyone who loves books, promotes literacy and wants to “come out and play.”

MONDAY MORNING MUSINGS

Waking up to coffee–two cups, one accompanied by two fresh-baked cookies and half a power bar. Plenty of breakfast. As I sip, I read Coffee Poems, purchased recently after reading on Jen Payne’s blog that she’d had a poem published in this anthology. (Yes, all the poems are about, or at least mention, coffee.) Here is Jen’s poem:

Measuring Water by Sound

I want to know the color of your eyes, not just the browns

and greens of them, but by the specific Pantone colors of

their constellations.

 

I want to know by rote how your tongue forms the syllables

of my name, the way your lips make words in the dark.

 

I want to know your skin like I know my favorite sweater,

how it caresses my shoulders, hugs my hips…where it rests

against my belly.

 

I want to know you by sound, the way I know I’ve poured

enough water for the pot of coffee we’ll drink by moonlight

at 3.

 

The book is divided into coffee “At the Cafe,” and the portraits of weary waitresses, both old and young, evokes an empathy for the silent servers of coffee;  “Home Grounds,” coffee as a comfort in the comfort of our own kitchens; “Literary Latte,” my favorite section; “Elegy of Coffee,” poems of celebration and fervor for coffee; and “The Coffee Between Us,” both love poems and break-up laments.

It is an exceptional collection of poems, and it makes one want to attempt their own “Coffee Poem.”

If you have one, PLEASE post your URL or put it in the reply box below.

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9 responses to “MONDAY MORNING MUSINGS”

  1. ksbeth Avatar
    ksbeth

    This sounds like a wonderful collection about one of my favorite things!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Rae Reads Avatar
      Rae Reads

      I LUV my coffee.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  2. sjhigbee Avatar
    sjhigbee

    What a wonderful poem – thank you for sharing. The collection sounds like it would have a ready-made audience of fans, given how many folks just LOVE their coffee…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Rae Reads Avatar
      Rae Reads

      Out of curiosity, do you drink coffee or tea?

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. sjhigbee Avatar
        sjhigbee

        Oh I’m a confirmed tea drinker! Love the stuff… Though when we go out I do treat myself to a cappuccino:)). What about you, Rae?

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Rae Reads Avatar
        Rae Reads

        I’m a bi-beverage-ual. I have a pull-out drawer in my pantry that holds coffees and teas, and it’s about equally divided. I allow myself one diet coke (8 oz) a day, but only take advantage of that every two or three days. I drink water like I was the Mississippi River, drinking up all its tributaries! Three or more 16 oz. bottles a day. With our heat and humidity, hydration is a necessity.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. sjhigbee Avatar
        sjhigbee

        Oh, I’m sure you need to keep drinking – and that is the benefit of being home, you can be in charge of your hydration, can’t you? We are also in the middle of a heatwave though our temperatures aren’t as brutal as yours.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Deb Nance at Readerbuzz Avatar
    Deb Nance at Readerbuzz

    I would love to write a tribute to coffee.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Rae Reads Avatar
      Rae Reads

      PLEASE DO! I’ll reblog it on my sites.

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