On caffeine nights when I study late
And drink for concentration,
I lie awake with open eyes
Dreaming of peaceful sleep.
It’s quiet here now
Except for the cars in the street
Zooming back and forth;
Lions chasing a pack of gazelles.
When the cars don’t zoom past my window,
And the gazelles are silent,
I hear a different sort of quiet,
And can hear myself think.
I lie awake, and my thoughts turn to you,
Images of running with you in fields of heather
Or wet sand between our toes as the tide rolls over our feet.
I listen for your heart and your breathing.
But you are not here.
I think of lying in bed holding you in my arms
Sharing love to Quincy Jones.
The gazelles return – I lose my focus on you.
Sometimes we cry for sleep
Where we can be alone in our beds
Without companionship we don’t know if we want,
But we know we sometimes need.
Poem originally published in All Your Poems Anthology Magazine Summer 2026, The Writers Publishing Company 2026 all rights reserved, ISSN 2977-3822
Coffee always gets the fix
After that energy drinks will do
For when I need a quick pick me up
Found in a fee simple drinks
Everything is always better
If you have Caffeine
Nevertheless I will admit
Everyone has a different opinion on it
I’ve been sitting here since Wednesday morning, I cannot believe my lips.
Caffeine falling off the edge as I write.
Caffeine filling my body with alertness as I exercise.
In the morning, it was coffee to start my day.
During break it was an energy drink.
At lunch it was a spot of green tea for stress relief.
At the gym it was a preworkout
At dinner it was Earl Grey before sleep.
If a lady that was feeling tired would give me a kiss then her heart would jolt from more than the spark of the kiss. It would jolt with the caffeine from my love felt kiss.
It’s Monday - again - every time I look around,
it seems like it’s Monday again.
Weekdays I run on snark and caffeine.
If I seem preoccupied..
I’m not ignoring you, I’m buffering
My playlists soothe and understand me
I’m not ignoring you, I’m reorganizing a playlist.
My mood is linked to Wi-Fi strength.
I’m not ignoring you, I’m doom scrolling.
On weekends, we put the ‘pro’ in procrastination
we take the celibacy out of celebration
and work on our romantic cardio
Sometimes you gotta pop-out and show your alignment
I’m not ignoring you, I just don’t want to pull a bird-finger muscle
.
.
A song for this:
The Politics of Dancing (12" Extended Mix) by Re-Flex
Without Him by Triste Janero
Am I mistaken-did you speak to me
Dare you before my first cup, you see
I need my caffeine now – right now
Then, maybe an interaction I may allow
Live without my liquid motivation?
Uh no! Need you more information?
Fine! Let me give you the situation
Here is my mode of communication
Look at my face. Do you see happiness here?
Ummm, did I make it very clear
My addiction is caffeine so severe
So, no, I don’t want your cheer
Guide me to the coffee pot
I’m definitely going to need a lot
What was your name again? I forgot
Yep, I better make it a double shot
Ah, liquid motivation is the key
Let me drink this down and see
How different I may actually be
Yes…now I’m happy we can agree
A jolt of dark bean-juice wakes my slack jaw,
Steam dances like tiny ghosts, what the heck do I saw?
Mug trembles, I mutter to avoid mortal sin,
“More cream! More sugar!” I plead, let sweetness win.
Bitter mug warrior, I salute your fierce taste,
Without you mornings feel like hours laid to waste.
Oh coffee, sweet caffeinated lord—do it again!
You may think that caffeine is one of those things.
Taps on your shoulder, feels like goop.
But every once in a while you get tangled in seaweed.
Become a seaweed monster.
You might not know that the cameras could descend at any time.
Eat the garbage that got scattered around.
And the cameras will see you as if they are real people.
Letting go like a bite of candy that is unexpectedly crunchy.
I have tangled feelings in the doorknobs of my house.
And extended periods of the fans being on in the winter.
You may think that caffeine is one of those things.
That makes you eat dust like carpet fibers.
But you don’t eat dust anymore.
No coffee mug with stains on it exists.
Just collapses in my mind.
Like the seasons wreck me.
Then fall came around.
And a seaweed monster is unseasonable for now.
Whew…
There is no such thing as caffeine or bad things.
Shaking but it’s not caffeine.
It’s just winter, we don’t know how months became months.
I don’t drink coffee anymore.
I don’t think I ever knew how.
Caffeine vapor billows
blowing with the raindrops
the ceiling says
my body wanders
to a part of nowhere
glowing like a warm air
as if it were true
The reflection of the latte under the yellow light
the foam forms a crescent
like the curve of your smiling eyes
Petrichor tonight is so foreign
because only the gentle wind
between your body is familiar to me
I begin to enjoy the thunder
thundering beats
rhythmically
with the same beats
like an album cliché at my fingertips
jumping from time to time
Raindrops intertwined with nostalgia
melancholic rhythm
irony and romance
instantly combined
now flowing away
I’m just twirling in the center of my room.
I’ve got way too much to do.
Has that ever happened to you?
I’m assailed, derailed and impaled by indecision.
I can’t find my lucky pencil and I have a final in 90 minutes
I have lab results to qualify and I’ve a term paper to finish.
I have two problem-sets due and I must arrange movers.
Despite my burn-out, I should start packing for move-out.
In order to get our reservations and tickets in hand,
we’ve got to finalize our summer plans.
On my theoretical schedule - I’m behind -
oh, and there’s a mountain of laundry to climb.
In finals week everything is ratcheted up.
and there’s the weighty and unavoidable demands of sleep.
I’m just a girl about to pass out in her room, over-caffeineed,
from chugging a large, iced coffee after 3 hours of sleep.
I’ve read that stress can affect valuations.
I think it’s true.
I twirl.
.
.
Give Paris One More Chance by Jonathan Richman (Youtube ZMF7Jq8xNGI)
I Want You Back by Trijntje Oosterhuis
Make a Rainbow by Benny Sings
Let Her Go Into The Darkness by Johnathan Richman
Caffeine
Soothe my nerves
Soothe my soul
Like a cup of gold
Black as an ace
Bitter as aloe
Increase the adrenaline
Up the heart rate
Low blood pressure treats
Decaff is a joke
Ill-conceived beverage
Makes me want to choke
By Cathrin Stuart
Re-hydrate, sipping coffee,
Old teachers, you see,
Inhale fragrance divine,
Caffeine breath, not wine,
Iced coffee, or latte?
Like my beans? I say,
Blending as one,
Sipping coffee, fun,
Addiction of our age,
Coffee fan, my page....
Hi there, I’m your initial cup of coffee,
The one that jolts your brain out of neutral.
I don’t think you could survive without me
And at times, I know this feeling’s mutual.
It’s my purpose to get your systems working,
To tempt you out from the Land of Nod,
To guide you from the path that leads to brambles
Through pastures that past villagers have trod.
Yes, I am your very first cuppa,
I’m just one of your very best friends,
I try to sustain your brain functions,
It’s on me that your future depends!
I’m happy to stay to the side of the stage
In the shadows of the wings,
I will mingle with milk from multiple brands
Or those thin wooden, stirry things.
I won’t confront your weariness
Or your affair with Ovaltine,
I’m content to raise your consciousness
With a swift dose of caffeine.
So don’t take me for granted
I’ll be there as you grow old,
Awakening your palate
Whilst warming the mug you hold.
Tired eyes wish to sleep
Has been so gloomy, all day long
So long that now I long to sleep!
Finally get to rest my head,
On angelic pillows of cotton and cloth
Laying on that peaceful bed
Five seconds to closing my eyes,
I don't own coffee, though my eyelids-
Pic up caffeine from nowhere in the air
I still wish to sleep
But my eyes resists
Ends with no rest!
That is one thing about rigor:
It can Intact Man disfigure;
Like a cell phone reconfigure
The Stout left A Sorry Figure…
You won’t yourself in public show;
Not a new thing in you did grow;
Slaving at a task “Your New Foe”
Hours taking to turn a toe!
It’s a big stab from stretched rigor:
It leaves not the same one’s Vigor:
I used to know a strong Igor,
Not dead before stripped of vigor…
Some men it’d enveloped in dust.
Good pipes now struggling with rust;
You don’t energy drink dismiss
Nor caffeine you can handle miss.
Don't ever vouch for drunk caffeine
That it can't one show one's coffin,
Now,my heart's calm rate quickening,
Later,taxed vessels weakening
Turns it out a search for a lift
But towards Descent final drift.
One begins to question its source;
A system is being moved with force.
The waiter in every cola:
Eaters it won't make a Zola;
Even one drags by the collar,
My best movement A Parabola!
What would you have stimulated;
Samson's bearing simulated?
At the sight of caffeine stiffen:
I'd stop a long chat or briefing.
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