Epithelial
by Michele Habel-Coffey
My fingers trace the outlines of my cup…
Lingering circles, damp with coffee
And with dead epithelials- words unspoken
Sloughed off by the heat of the black liquid
Stimulated edges of nerves
Tactile truths
Give way to fresh, soft lips
And caffeinated hope
Hope
By Michele Habel-Coffey
Hope’s got useless feathers
‘Tis a penguin on the shore
With broken, useless, darkened wings
And no god to implore
She’s indeed a seasoned swimmer
Gets her sustenance from the sea
But the sea is wrought with angry waves
And she is never free
The island is her icy home
With other flightless fowl
Guarding flightless offspring
From lions on the prowl
Sweet songs for her are hard to hear
Drowned out by the storms
The chill is clinging deep within
Nothing keeps her warm
Oh, Hope’s got useless feathers
The kind that do not fly
It’s stuck there on that island
It’s there it’s like to die
