Pencil Shavings

Every time I hear that sound

I go into a panic!

Where is it coming from this time?

Up in the attic?

“No,” she laughs and bobs her head,

“It sounds like rain to me.

It’s just that coffee maker there

Burbling its brew, can’t you see?”

Then the warm aroma of coffee

Wafts and triggers cravings,

Until I remember that smell, for me,

Turns to the taste of pencil shavings.

Naida Lavon

03-09-10

Write Around Portland Workshop. Prompts:

“The smell of coffee…”

or

“The sound of rain…”

6 minute free write.

The prompts reminded me of the little disaster we’d had at work, the women’s shelter, when one of the upstairs toilets plugged up and dripped down onto the floor just outside the office where I work. The following night my co-worker made coffee at the sink across the room and the sound of the coffee maker made me think the toilet had overflowed again. The pencil shavings taste refers to the fact that I really have to be in the mood for coffee otherwise I don’t like the taste of it.