For Day 18 of NaPoWriMo this year, the prompt is to write an ode to life’s small pleasures. My first cup of coffee of the day is one of those for me. Loosely inspired by what is becoming one of my favourite poems, Wendell Berry’s The Peace of Wild Things.

***
When the darkness of night lifts
and I awake to the dreariness
of existing in this place,
forgetting where Yesterday ends
and Today begins to slip into Tomorrow,
I reach for this worn mug,
its stained sides and chipped edges
reassuring in their durability.
At first light I lose myself
to the muscle memory of returning
and find joy in small sips.