FIRST CUP OF TEA

I recall the first time I was 'put in charge of the pot' and my tiny hands carefully spooned the tea into the teapot, giving it an eager stir- I'm like Proust when he dunked that madeleine! ☕

HAIKU

The shrill persistence 

Of the alarm on my phone

Is, oddly, tiresome.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Goldilocksitis (noun) -  

that brief pause right before you take your first sip - an almost inexplicable movement away from your mouth - as if the liquid may be too hot. 🤔☕

HAIKU

A poet competes

In the 800 meters

But runs out of lines.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

I wish I was an octopus - I could have eight first cups of tea. 🐙☕☕☕☕☕☕☕☕

HAIKU

In search of lost time

I stumble upon a scent

Of freshly mown grass.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Water, an essential part of the cuppa, was formed via hydrogen, produced at the time of the Big Bang, and oxygen, from the heart of an exploding supernova - that concludes today's lesson from the Open Universitea. ☕

HAIKU

Yesterday's footprints, 

Lost rhymes to the tide, we stride

Towards tomorrow.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

To slightly misquote Brian Clough - "I wouldn't say this is the best cup of tea of the day. But it's in the top one." ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

The garden fence over which we gossip with imagination. ☕

HAIKU

Sunday knows the rules

It whispers its arrival 

And leaves me alone.

HAIKU

Crows call me awake

The Harbour Masters of dawn

Docking nascent light.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

I 

carefully 

          pour

               it out

                 but 

invariably 

some of

of it 

                           gets spilled. ☕

HAIKU

That sound when you wake

When you stretch and your joints click:

That's Time's abacus.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

the leaves are dancing in the bag

which dances in the cup

the boiling water's done the trick

and now it's time to sup. ☕

HAIKU

In my dream I saw
Gandhi play pool against God:
And they both cheated!

HAIKU

All poems have legs

Some stride purposefully so:

Others. Like this. Don't.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

The tinkling of teaspoon on china - there's nothing that sounds any finer. ☕

HAIKU

A haiku beckons,

"Come, sit with me for a while"

And reader, I did.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

You are now entering Sipping, population 1, twinned with Supping. ☕

HAIKU

Sunshine through the blinds

Casts Day's barcode onto me:

I stand to be scanned.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Like driving down a pothole-free road (if you're old enough to recall such a thing). ☕

HAIKU

Society dreams:

Voices lost to glowing screens,

Folks just stare at them.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

In a blow to the news, scientists have discovered that drinking tea reduces your head-lines. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

A concierge for the soul. ☕

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is a fear of long words. 

Don't have nightmares...

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Both confidant and sounding-board, take a seat in the silent confessional. ☕

HAIKU

The zebra crossing:

The road's very own barcode

Might be abstract art.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

 if all the teas in all the world

were laid out in a line 

they'd all go cold

so all be told

let's stick to yours and mine. ☕☕

HAIKU

Snoring keeps the dreams

From falling out of your head:

Noisy gatekeepers.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

The quotidian with just a dash of the quixotic. ☕

HAIKU

Now dawn's light first breaks,

Thoughtful, racing baby steps

Through bejewelled grass.

HAIKU

Some Argy-bargy, 

But the Spanish flamenco

Wins the final dance.

HAIKU

Where do shadows hide 

When the light goes out at night?

They hide in plain sight.

HAIKU

A thought is stirring

When this heatwave is over

Who'll miss fans whirring?

FIRST CUP OF TEA

And we all sipped happily ever after. ☕

HAIKU

It grew up right here

But don't stand by the front door,

It's not coming home.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Same time, same place , tomorrow? ☕

HAIKU

Birdsong on the breeze,

The distant motorway hum

Of Monday grumbling.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

I am in esteamed company. ☕

HAIKU

Mirrors never lie

They only reveal the truth,

Upon reflection.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

I sit down, and much like England, I find the tea bag is still in the cup. ☕⚽🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

HAIKU

A single crow caws

Or do two crows each take turns?

Yes. Of caws they do.

HAIKU

Time's concertina:

Squeezing and pulling us all

Into songs of life.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

where have all the teapots gone

now we make tea in mugs?

we dunk our tea and carry on

like tea-bag litter bugs.

HAIKU

AI has language

Like Elon Musk has money:

Launch them into space.

HAIKU

We're Red Riding Hood,

In a word forest, looking 

For our grammar's house.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

The Swiss Army knife for the ponderer. 🤔☕

HAIKU

I hardly dare breathe

The warm stillness of the air

Is watching, waiting.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Always good in a heatwave - tannin the soul. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

"All human life is here." - Brews Of The World. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

I'm lying, it's about my fifth - I haven't yet been to bed. 

🫩🫩🫩🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿⚽📺☕☕☕☕☕

HAIKU

When the England fans,

Their long dark night of the goals,

At last see the light. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿☀️

FIRST CUP OF TEA

There isn't really a set time for your first cup of tea, but it's always best to have it before your second. ☕🤔

HAIKU

Wrapped in our duvets

Cocoons of transformation:

Sunday flutters by.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Today I'm pondering...do left-handed people, such as myself, always stir their tea clockwise, and do right-handed people always stir it counter-clockwise? Tea - here to ask the big questions. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Able to both excite and calm at the same time - a magical thermos flask for the emotions. ☕

HAIKU

Freshly painted blue,

The sky canvas is pulled tight 

Across the morning.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

August Rodin couldn't start his day without a cuppa.

HAIKU

Two crows loudly caw:

In an exciting exchange 

It ends a caw draw.

HAIKU

Transient heatwave 

It's time for you to move on

Down that sticky road.

HAIKU

When this heatwave ends

The audience stays seated

No calls for encore

HAIKU

The silent heatwave 

Clings to the quiet morning

Like a warm cobweb.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

I'm not saying it's warm or anything but I'm blowing on my tea to cool it down and it's appears to be heating it up! ☕🌡️🤣

HAIKU

Time's spiral staircase 

And the solitude of sleep 

Keeps my dreams moving.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Simultaneous pondering - today's heatwave and wondering if any of the PG Tips TV chimps are still alive - Primate Change? ☕☀️🙉🤔

HAIKU

I'm horizontal

Then the alarm clock goes off:

Still horizontal.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

A genie need only grant me one wish. 🧞‍♂️☕

HAIKU

Amber heat warning

Sunday shall cast its resin

And movement will cease.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

"At the first cup, it will be one cup of tea, precisely" 🕧☕

HAIKU

I am Sisyphus 

Trying to get out of bed

Only to roll back.

HAIKU

Sunday secret smile:

It delivers the sunshine

And precious silence.

HAIKU

Time's solemn advice:

"Spend me wisely, spend me well.

Change available."

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Once more unto the kitchen, dear friends, once more - Shakespeare's Henry V, Cup 1.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

A sapling in a forest of first cups. ☕

HAIKU

Life's hall of mirrors

Where we pause for reflection

Upon reflection.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

It's a little known fact that Oliver! the musical nearly became Tea! the musical. Here are some of the original song titles...☕☕☕

You Gotta Sip A Cuppa Or Two

As Long As Tea Needs Me

I'd Brew Anything

Ooh! Ah! Ah!

Tea Back Soon 

Brew Glorious Brew

JESUS SAVES

Jesus saves - for a rainy day

But Pharaoh now plays the stock market

He once lent some money to Moses, they say,

Who promptly pissed off in a basket.

HAIKU

I hope my IQ 

Is higher than my haiku,

As that's seventeen.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

The start of the working/slurping week. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

The original World Cup. ☕

HAIKU

If Time is distilled 

We are left with Memory.

Moonshine Memory.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Tea is my religion - which makes me a First Cup Adventist. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Ladies & gentlemen, it is my singular privilege, my absolute honour, my unparalleled, unadulterated pleasure to give to you that sublime balm for the battered spirit, that most delectable, restorative, & robust of refreshments...the humble, yet incomparable...FIRST CUP OF TEA!!! ☕

HAIKU

Time walks on wet sand

On the shore of memory

Leaving mere imprints.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

 Tea leaves, and it hasn't even said where it's going. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

"When shall we, tea, meet again?" - the draft first line from Macbeth, before Shakespeare realised tea wouldn't become a nationally popular drink for another 40 years. That's how clever he was. 😉☕

HAIKU

June rain thumbs a lift

Hitching rides from weak sunbeams

Too shy to say no.

BENIN BRONZES

To help understand what this text tells us of cross-cultural encounters we need to see the context in which it was written.  We need to examine the source and to whom and why it was produced. We need to see how the discovery of such sophisticated artwork sat alongside the Victorian attitudes to Africa, their view on race and their interpretation of ‘civilisation’. If we also explore how they judged these objects at the time we can reflect how they continue to be re-interpreted and evolve. 

There were intense rivalries between the European museums of the time following the discoveries at Benin. Read and Dalton were, “keen to promote the ethnography within the British Museum…to cast the British as the civilised keeper of the world’s history,” (Loftus, 2008, p53).

Read and Dalton struggled to explain the origin of the plaques discovered in the king’s compound in 1897. There is a certain finality in the suggestion that the haphazard way they were found after the invasion would forever, “destroy any hope that a clue to their origin or use might be found in Benin itself” (Read and Dalton, 1898 in Loftus and Wood, 2008, p84). Their puzzlement to, “account for so highly developed an art among a race so entirely barbarous” (Read and Dalton, 1898 in Loftus and Wood, p84) not only re-affirms stereotypical Victorian views of ‘primitive’ Africa but also emphasises the shortage of non-British evidence. Although Read and Dalton would later use Bini oral accounts it is useful to note that the primary sources available in 1897 were those of government documents, a survivor of the ambush, an officer in the invasion force, a doctor and the media, all British (Mackie, 2008, p18).  History, very much, being written by the winners.

The Victorians, and later the Edwardians, were slow to establish the Art of Benin as indigenous to the region or self-inspired. Their explanation for its production was,   “that the native was raised for the moment above his normal level by direct foreign inspiration,” (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1910-11 in Loftus and Wood, 2008, p82), a direct reference to the Portuguese influence over the area.

By the conquest of Benin City in 1897 the British hoped to be, “opening access to both trade and Christianity,” (Mackie, 2008, p27), seeing African society as, “changeless or regressing,” (Mackie, 2008, p27) and they as the saviour through this two-pronged approach.

Though they describe the pieces as, “remarkable works of art”,(Read and Dalton, 1898,  in Loftus and Wood, 2008, p84), it didn’t stop the wholesale shipment of the items as ‘war booty’ back to Europe where they were separated and sold. 

Originally displayed in large glass cases, the pieces were grouped together by functionality in an anthropological setting, (Illustration Book 3, plate 3.2.22).

The Benin artwork took many years, many displays and the discovery of local sources, to be regarded and re-interpreted as sophisticated, independent pieces of African art, (Illustration Book, 2008, plate 3.2.25), that can give us an appreciation of the technical skills of the artists allied to an insight into the culture and practices of this once-mysterious, misunderstood society.

Word Count: 516

Bibliography

Entry on ‘Negro’ in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edn. (1910-11). Written by T.A.Joyce, Assistant in the Department of Ethnography, British Museum, and Secretary of the Anthropology Society.

Loftus, D. & Wood, P. (2008), The Art of Benin: Changing Relations Between Europe and Africa II, Brown RD (ed), Cultural Encounters (AA100, Book 3), Milton Keynes, Open University.

Read, C.H. and Dalton, O.M. (1898) ‘Works of art from Benin City, Journal of the Anthropological Institute, vol.27, pp. 362-82.

The Open University (2008), AA100 Illustration Book (Plates for Books 3 and 4), Milton Keynes, The Open University.

Woods, K. & Mackie, R. (2008), The Art of Benin: Changing Relations Between Europe and Africa I, Brown RD (ed), Cultural Encounters (AA100, Book 3), Milton Keynes, Open University.

Stephen Kerr – B865886X                    5th July2012

Assignment 05. Part 2.

How strong are the arguments for keeping the Benin ‘bronzes’ in the West?

To evaluate the strength of the arguments for keeping the Benin ‘bronzes’ in the West we must first establish how Benin’s interaction with Europe led to their eventual forced removal. We then must consider the arguments for keeping the ‘bronzes’ in the West and encounter polar opinion to such thoughts. We will establish the difficulties that have been overcome in categorising such pieces and the part they have played in the development of 20th century Western art. From this we should be able to formulate an academic opinion based on this evidence.

Benin had traded with Europe since the late 15th century, following contact with Portuguese merchants operating along their coast. It was this mutually beneficial trade relationship with Portugal that first led to the West’s discovery of the Benin brass artwork, known as ‘bronzes’. In exchange for the raw materials they needed to produce these ‘bronzes’, in the form of brass manillas, Benin would trade intricately carved ivory pieces that were sold in the Portuguese market, (Illustration Book3 Plate 3.1.5.). The ‘bronzes’, during this time, were seen as royal art and not for trade. Though not a modern day trading relationship of equals it was, “certainly characterised by a notable absence of hostility” (Woods, 2008, p16).

This all changed following the sacking of Benin City by the British in 1897. This saw the wholesale removal of ‘bronze’ statues, plaques and ivories from the royal compound, (Illustration Book3 Plate 3.1.14). These items were sold to museums throughout Europe to finance the mission, with institutions in Europe and the United States clamouring for the best pieces. That they remain there to this day is a matter of huge controversy and debate. 

The British museum’s mission statement is that it is a museum for the world. It is argued that to return the bronzes to Nigeria would leave a, “yawning gap”  (Chris Spring, speaking on The Art of Benin, track2) in the museums representation of world culture. It is countered that to display them in their original place of manufacture would give us, “a better understanding of their function and their aesthetics” (Kevin Dalton-Johnson, speaking on the Art of Benin, track 2). 

Ownership of the sculptures also raises much controversy. It can be seen that institutions such as the British Museum see the Benin ‘bronzes’, “like any great work of art, they belong to humankind” (Chris Spring, Art of Benin, track3). This fits in with their ‘museum for the world’ ethos. It is argued that the forcible removal of the ‘bronzes’ was comparable to the forcible removal of many Africans from their homeland during the slave trade and, “there are many kinds of parallels between the Benin bronze displacement and the displacement that is experienced by African diasporics like myself (Kevin Dalton-Johnson, Art of Benin, track3). 

It is said that by returning the ‘bronzes’ to Nigeria,  “we would lose the potential of talking about everything that they can tell us in our society” (Chris Spring, Art of Benin, track4). It is further argued that they rail against the extreme negative and positive images that we in the West receive of Africa such as, “death, destruction, famine, AIDS, or some sort of idealised idea of Africa, elephants across the Serengeti…” (Chris Spring, Art of Benin, track4).

It is agreed that the way in which the artwork was taken from Benin and given to the museum is a stance, “we would never possibly and couldn’t possibly defend today, “(Chris Spring, Art of Benin, track4). It is the very way in which they were taken that the museum hopes there can be, “a huge amount that this work can teach people to lift that ignorance” (Chris Spring, Art of Benin, track4). As if the sophistication and intricacy of the artwork could go someway toward dispelling the view of ‘primitive’ African art that some people still hold. Others argue that it is simply a continuation of another form of colonialism when the Benin artwork is refused repatriation because the West knows best in the way that the items are categorised and displayed, “…almost justifies their removal…the implication that black people are not capable of looking after things themselves” (Kevin Dalton-Johnson, Art of Benin, track4).

An awful lot has changed since the Benin ‘bronzes’ came to the West in 1897, not least our understanding of the artwork, its categorisation, its functionality and its influence on others. Gone is the Europeans, “profound belief…in his own racial superiority” (Blyden, 1903, in Loftus and Wood, 2008, p82) and in its place a belief that, “looking at the art of Benin properly becomes a gateway to African history” (Wood, 2008, p76). 

It could be argued that had these pieces remained in the kings compound in Benin and had never travelled to the West in 1897 then the rest of the world would never have learned of their existence nor the ideas and information they have undoubtedly given us regarding the sophistication of African culture. From the grouping in anthropological, utilitarian classifications of the late 19th century, (Illustration Book 3, plate 3.2.22) through to the modern representations of both functionality and beauty (Illustration Book 3, plate 3.2.24) of today, we have seen that the West has finally appreciated these working pieces of art for the purpose that was originally intended.

To argue on a purely cultural level regarding the retention of the Benin ‘bronzes’ by the West it seems that they are serving a really useful purpose in the Western museums. The British Museum and its Western counterparts are huge seats of learning in the 21st century. With the advent of global travel and the ease of use of the Internet there really is no reason that the world cannot finally share in what they hold for it in perpetuity.  If their purpose is to educate and inform on African culture then one could argue that they are best placed in Europe to reach a wider audience, an audience, incidentally who are the descendants of the colonialists. The idea of, “ Reparation Through Education” (Chris Spring, Art of Benin, track5) would seem an appropriate use of the objects when considering the journey they have undertaken.

Word Count: 1,023

Bibliography

Edward.W.Blyden (1903) ‘West Africa before Europe’, Journal of the Royal African Society, vol.2, no. 8, pp359-74 (extracts from pp.363, 365, 368-9)

Loftus, D. & Wood, P. (2008), The Art of Benin: Changing Relations Between Europe and Africa II, Brown RD (ed), Cultural Encounters (AA100, Book 3), Milton Keynes, Open University.

‘The Art of Benin, Return of the Bronzes’ Chris Spring, (2008), (AA100 DVD ROM), Milton Keynes, The Open University

‘The Art of Benin, Return of the Bronzes’, Kevin Dalton-Johnson, (2008), (AA100 DVD ROM), Milton Keynes, The Open University

The Open University (2008), AA100 Illustration Book (Plates for Books 3 and 4), Milton Keynes, The Open University.

Woods, K. & Mackie, R. (2008), The Art of Benin: Changing Relations Between Europe and Africa I, Brown RD (ed), Cultural Encounters (AA100, Book 3), Milton Keynes, Open University.

ALIENS AND STOCKTAKING

At the corner shop an assistant uses a handheld device which beeps and flashes.

"Are you on a spaceship battling aliens!?" I nervously laugh.

"If only" she wistfully replies.

In a galaxy far far away there's probably an embattled alien wishing it was stocktaking.

A VERY LATE FIRST CUP OF TEA

Late on parade

and sipping my late brew

second cup - dismayed

that I have jumped the queue.

HAIKU

Sunday slowly runs

Like a small trickle of time

Before Monday's flood.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

 On your marks...get set...slow...☕

TIME'S SCREAM

"Do you want to see my etchings?"

Said Time to me in a dream. 

Time handed me a mirror

And I woke up with a scream.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

As I once again discard the old tea bag into the food waste bin there's still a part of me, every time I open the lid, which expects to see a tiny tea bush growing inside. ☕

HAIKU

The heatwave has passed

And the loudest cheers come from

The tanning salons.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Relish every sip

Embellish every morning

Save each and every drip

Increase our global warming. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

First cup of tea: Chapter 1. "It was the best of times, it was the best of times..."

The original first line draft of Dickens, A Tale Of Two Cities, written while drinking tea. ☕

HAIKU

The heatwave pauses,

But only to catch its breath

For a single day.

HAIKU

The sun's morning smile

Spreads into a tightened grin

Replete with menace.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

The heatwave that lasts all year. ☕

HAIKU

Today's short story

Is of weightless summer days

That forever shine.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

The oil refinery for the industrial revolution of the soul. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Lucid steaming. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

"Therefore, send not to know

For whom the bell tolls,

It tolls for tea."

John Donne's first draft.  ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Tea for two

Is my only prayer

Slurping from

The Common Book Of Share. ☕☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Your happiness is due to be delivered within the first sip; you can track your happiness here - ☕ - just scan the Ooh Ahh code.

HAIKU

On the Sands of Time

We paddle in the rock pools

Of warm memories.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

It's not the first jigsaw piece of the day; it's more the picture on the box. ☕

HAIKU

We are all authors

Scribbling in life's storybook

With no editor.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Even if this was Godot, I'd wait for it. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

the teabag's squished and squashed and mashed

'tween teacup and 'tween spoon,

the teapot's hopes are tossed and dashed,

its song now out of tune.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Accuracy in a world of errors. ☕

HAIKU

At the convention 

For haikus, three new poets

Walk into a bard.

HAIKU

Let's have at the day!

Treat it like any challenge 

And just ask A.I.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Where anticipation and expectation roll into one big delectation - at the tea station. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

🎶🎵🎶"We all sip for that mellow dopamine.🎶🎵🎶

The first draft of Yellow Submarine by tea-loving Ringo Starr.☕

HAIKU

Monday has arrived

Sweeping the weekend away 

With its long work broom.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Warning; side effects include happiness, daydreaming, pondering and satisfaction. ☕

HAIKU

Time weighs it's anchor

To allow us to pass through

The Straits of Sunday.

HAIKU

Our words are like light

Sent out to the universe:

Unedited stars.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

The Imagination Tree bears fruit. ☕

HAIKU

Our dreams are echoes:

Mere subconscious yodelling

On faraway hills.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Swallows and Amazons - a little known fact; Arthur Ransome got the title for his famous children's adventure series after finishing a cuppa and taking a delivery from a courier. Probably. ☕

HAIKU

The words 'Love' and 'Hate'

Come from the same alphabet:

Letters choose wisely.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Where the infinite possibilities of the imagination meet the finite dimensions of your teacup. ☕

HAIKU

Time is a garden:

And we are the hardiest

Of perennials.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Imagination's universal translator. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

From expectation to satisfaction in just one sip. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Rest awhile & take some time

To drink this brew & then unwind

For tea is not just any drink

It makes us ponder, stop, and think.

 

"Do people still wash their front steps?"

"And how do porcupines have sex?"

"Why is Pluto not a planet?"

"And where the hell's the Isle of Thanet?"

HAIKU

When I was a kid 

Alphabetti spaghetti

Counted as homework

HAIKU

I smile at my wife,

At the confetti blossom,

And us oldyweds.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Never Knowingly Undersupped. ☕

HAIKU

Echo meets her fate

When Narcissus rejects her:

Repeat after me.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

I like to think that the slight tannin stain on my old chipped mug is where the mug itself stores its own fond memories of tea. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Sipping is fun but life demands the occasional slurp. ☕

HAIKU

Time's own dividers:

A universal flat-pack

With no instructions.

HAIKU

Language is broad strides:

Haiku's are the tiny feet

Of perfectionists.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

I thank the woman who picked the leaf,

the farmer who milked the cow,

the potter who made my old, chipped mug,

and the present for just being now. ☕

HAIKU

Now is a market 

Where The Past and The Future

Haggle for our time.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Ponder of the day - are people who drink green tea known as tea-cologists? 🤔☕

HAIKU

Haikus are simple

Prime numbers of poetry:

Elegantly formed.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Makes the world feel that bit saner. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

My Sunday best. ☕

HAIKU

Lines are now forming

Atop Poetry Mountain:

High queues for haiku's.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

As I make it, it's a hope, as I drink it, it's a pleasure, when it's finished, it's a memory, then it returns, to a hope once more. Tea is life in a cup. ☕

HAIKU

Time's playing Pooh Sticks

Casting twigs into the stream - 

Watching us float by.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

 Redefining excellence, one sip at a time. ☕

HAIKU

The Earth fires rockets 

To the moon and at itself:

Space between the ears.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

As I get older I identify more and more with my teapot; rarely used, merely decorative, and only taken out on special occasions. 😂☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

We measure our journey in such small sips; savour every one, for they are bookmarks to the future. ☕

HAIKU

Sunday's sweetest song

Is its silent melody 

That lets us sleep in.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Consistency in a cup. ☕

HAIKU

Today I paddle;

The rock pool of yesterday

Covered by the tide.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

I ponder on the fact that every atom in my tea was once forged from a dying star or produced milliseconds after the Big Bang.

Then I wonder, is milk 1st or 2nd even worth considering due to the cosmological implications for the humble cuppa?

It is.

Milk first! 

Blast off!! 🚀☕

HAIKU

Soft Sunday whispers

Under a lazy duvet

Lest we wake Monday.

HAIKU

Spring's ascendancy

Dismisses frosty mornings

As the earth softens.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

What George Harrison was drinking when he wrote Here Comes The Sun. ☕☀️

REVISION, RE-EDITED

The poet rides alone and hard along the alchemic trail,

trapped inside their own construct,

a perpetual motion machine of the edit.

But there comes a point where there is no more chaff to discard,

no more lead to be sacrificed in the crucible of revision.

There comes a time when they must announce to the world, 

"Here it is - my newborn poem."

And the world more often than not replies, 

"Ahh. Aren't they...oh! Erm, such an interesting face."

HAIKU

Sunday shushes us

Like a friendly teacher would:

Now, fingers on lips.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Enabling us all to be mudlarks of the imagination. ☕

BAMBOO AND THE DOGWOOD TREE

Bamboo is the noisiest wood

You can hear it growing, hark!

Yet the flowering dogwood tree

Has the most silent bark.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

I've found the secret to perpetual emotion. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

A standalone anthology. ☕

HAIKU

Time cashes our cheques

In the lost memory banks;

Pictures, overdrawn.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

A metaphor for life itself; ignore the appearance of the cup, it's always what's inside that counts. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Where the journey is always more enjoyable than the destination. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

So good I had to SHOUT ABOUT IT. ☕

HAIKU

We are reflections

Held fast in every mirror,

Trapped at our oldest.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

I'm lactose intolerant, but I don't want to milk it. ☕

HAIKU

Whisper it quietly 

But my clock's two minutes fast.

Hi, from the future.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

I haven't found Dr Livingstone but I've found the source of the smile, I presume. ☕

HAIKU

Walked to the haiku

To find all that I wanted.

Well, I say all...

HAIKU

The Artists palette 

Parked in neutral. The sky smudged

Like a lost excuse.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Boilit, Sippit and Looseleaf - Dickensian tea merchants. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Brigadoon. Every morning. ☕

BE MY VALENTINE

Be my Valentine:

Even though he was beaten,

Stoned and beheaded.

For nothing says love

More than a stoned, headless saint,

And forecourt flowers.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

I've travelled oceans of tea to arrive at this one small cup. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

It is far from a coincidence that the words 'first' and 'thirst' sound so alike. ☕

THE PLOUGH

Here's to every furrowed groove 

That’s marched across my brow,

Proof I’ve lived, I’ve laughed, I’ve stressed

Behind Time's skin-deep plough.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Giving the Imagination muscles a workout. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

I glance briefly at a cupboard full of cups and saucers as I pull out a mug. I can almost hear an audible sigh from the posh china as once again expediency overrules decorum. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

The sun rises as I sup - and I'm only 99% convinced that the two things are not related. ☕☀️

FIRST CUP OF TEA

I'm tickled pink

I love this drink

It keeps the blues away.

Earl Grey or not

It hits the spot

It colours all my day. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Grateful to the Tea Gods for holding up Now for the briefest of moments for the longest of looks. ☕

LIFE'S A JIGSAW

Life's a jigsaw. Many don't get to finish the puzzle, even less appreciate the picture. Everyone's picture is different. Everyone's box is the same. 🧩🧩🧩

FIRST CUP OF TEA

the contents from continents, afar,

whose contents, content us, thus far. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Time takes a moment's break while Memory

plays its greatest hits and gives a

shout-out

to the Future 

(who neither have met but have heard great things). ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Every sip is a small negotiation with impermanence. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Perfect for those days full of choice - whatever the whether. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

First ponder of the day; someone, somewhere will be having their first ever first cup of tea, and someone, somewhere will be having their last. 🤔

Therefore, the key to a long & happy life is to always stay ahead of the first person and to always stay just behind the second person. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

From a steaming pot

or a steaming kettle

just the one first cup

and the day can settle. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Welcome to Ponder - Population, 1. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

the first sup's always too hot

the last sup's always too cold

the art is to find that Goldilocks spot

then the rest of the day can unfold. ☕

WHICH COFFEE?

It's better to order flat white

An espresso but kept out of sight

You can trick all your mates

But this drink equates 

To a pacifist wanting a fight!

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Tea related songs you could sing to yourself as you make your tea.

Love Is The Mug by Roxy Music

Sip Slidin' Away by Paul Simon

Anything by The Sweet(ner)

Sugar Sugar by The Archies

Smells Like Tea Spirit by Nirvana

Bohemian Rhapsotea by Queen

Stir It Up by Bob Marley

FIRST CUP OF TEA

I sip around the chip

And sometimes even glug

"World's Best Dad"

It's quite the brag

But it's my favourite mug. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

When brew becomes one. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

There may be trouble ahead

But while there's moonlight

And music and love and this cup

Let's face the music and sup! ☕

THE SWEETIE JAR

Returning from Birmingham Airport this morning at 5:30am: 

the large crescent moon

hangs low in the sky

hesitant to touch

the frosty horizon

like a small child's slender

finger 

which has been told to stay away from

the sweetie jar.

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Thar he blows! 

Well, it is hot.🌬️ ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Tinkle the teaspoon 

slurp the drink

take time to enjoy

take time to think

there's gold in them hills 

there's gold in that sup

there's gold in the thrills

of every first cup. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

It's a fortunate stroke of serendipity to seren-sip-a-tea. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

You might mash the bag

You might stew the leaves

You might have it black

(it's hard to believe)

You might have a mug

You might have a cup 

You might have a glug

You might have a sup

You might drink alone

You might drink in pairs

There's only one drink

And nothing compares. ☕

THE LAND THAT MIME FORGOT

If language were to disappear 

And we were left with mime

Would we turn into Una Stubbs

And Lionel Blair in time?

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Time to tinkle the teaspoon. 🥄☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Strictly come dunking. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

While a picture may paint a thousand words, the taste of that first cup of tea colours in the whole dictionary. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

The hand bone's connected to the sip bone. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

The simple act of brewing up

Of taking teabag, spoon and cup

It brings such joy

It brings such pleasure

There's that rainbow 

There's that treasure. 🌈☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Supping and pondering,

though sometimes I ponder and sup.

I can't help wondering,

what magic is there in this cup? ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

I came, I sipped, I conquered. ☕

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Teaching a juvenile January how to start the morning. ☕

REFRIGERATED RESOLUTIONS

My fridge is stuffed with trays of leftover party food covered in tin foil. I thrust a hand under the foil into one of the trays, hoping for a fat sausage roll. I pull out instead a rather tired looking carrot stick. 

Is my fridge now making new year's resolutions for me?

FIRST CUP OF TEA

Just 358 more first cups until Christmas. ☕🎄