10.

I hear you.
Coffee is bad for me.
I't bad for my bones, bad for my teeth,
I shouldn't drink as much coffee as I do.
I hear you.

And yet coffee is what wakes me
what brings me home
what pulls me, Looney-Tune-style
through the air with a vapor cloud
in the shape of hand toward a cup
steaming, not bubbling,
into a dark reflection of myself.

Coffee brings me to my family
sits me around a table and lets me talk
buzzes my brain into story mode
allows me to warm my hands and my heart
to open up to you.

It's bad for me
but isn't everything?
Isn't life?
Aren't the uncomfortable moments around that same table
empty cups
non existant
when the conversation is dark
when it's scary?
How does anyone fix that ice cold moment?
How do you swallow that conversation?

You pour a cup of coffee
for everyone around.