Assured of your earthiness
by the cooing of the kettle,
you steep silently,
leaves arching back
to greet us in the morning.
In Morocco,
sweetened by hospitable hands,
you forgo cups
and glide into glasses
rimmed with mint and sugar.
Taking a turn,
Tibet blends you with butter,
and so steppe-steeped,
you fortify lamas and laymen alike.
From builders’ brews
as thick and opaque
as sunburnt workers’ palms
while they retool masonry in Cornwall,
to summer pomegranate blends
(six sips will ward off winter in New York)––
Wanderer, worldly girl,
travel in a thumb-latched tin;
lose track of the tongues you tease
and the thrumming throats you calm,
kissing indiscriminately
when decadence demands.
–
Jordi Alonso holds degrees in English literature from Kenyon College (A.B. ’14), Stony Brook University (M.F.A. ’16), and the University of Missouri (Ph.D. ’21). He is currently a Classical Studies M.A. student at Columbia University and is working on a verse translation of Nonnos’ epic poem Dionysiaca. His first book, Honeyvoiced, was published by XOXOX Press in 2014, and his chapbook, The Lovers’ Phrasebook, was published by Red Flag Poetry Press in 2017. His work appears in Kenyon Review Online, Roanoke Review, Levure Littéraire, and other journals.