Black Coffee

A September Sunday Poem

Black Coffee

Black coffee and buttered toast

A list of things that I like most

Bird dogs, reading, and Mountain Dew 

Deer swamps at sunrise and sunset too

Music and sadness, November snow 

Wood stoves, hemlocks, and Oreos 

Deep-water smallmouth and shade trees 

And Sundays when I get to be lazy 

Pistols, poems, and pickled ramps

Clapton in the kitchen when we slow dance 

Blowdowns, bacon, and barbershops

Pocket knives and old small-town truck stops 

Date nights, daydreams, and chicken wings 

And the moments when I notice my wedding ring 

Camp fires, loving her, and living here 

And the days between August and the New Year