Coffee

My first cup
was on a flight to Europe
not because of interest
but as an activity
that would eat up a fraction
of the nine hour travel,
I found it
surprisingly agreeable.

Habitual consumption
came some years later
when I was a supervisor
at a Barns & Noble Cafe
mostly, again, as something
to assuage tedium
as we stood for hours
serving the entitled.

Compulsion came shortly after
my first attempt at abstience
and working as a bank teller
I'd up end cup after cup
chasing I know not what
relishing the bitter black
and the heady, nauseous,
jitter it induced.

Now, I will admit
it is my sober vice
and more necessity with time
a comfortable constant
companion and crutch
heat, clarity and perhaps
dependence
but what a steadfast friend this beverage be.