coffeehouse what?

i’ve never been a late night drinker really. i’ve never been one to frequent the weekend bar scene. don’t get me wrong, i’ve done my fair share of partying, and plan to continue that on into the future…i’ve closed down bars, played pool and won against drunk frat boys, i’ve held my own at the table in a few games of asshole over the years, i’ve waked and baked, and i’ve seen the sunrise a time or two. but not everyday…that would just get boring.

it’s really always just been more about coffee, a cigarette, and good conversation for me. and if good conversation is no where to be found, then a pen and paper may suffice. and sometimes a good book, but they aren’t always easy to find.

my favorite coffeehouse ever was a place called Another Fool’s Café. there were comfy booths with dim lighting lining the walls, round tables and chairs in the middle of the floor and a small stage in the back for those sweet acoustic coffeehouse sounds that would play in the background as the jamaican barista behind the counter made the perfect mocha latte with whipped cream.

i read every maya angelou novel in that café. and tasting the bitter sweet mocha, i would read her poetry and i could hear her honey thick, rich voice in my head. brutally honest, reaching for raw emotion. slow and patient, with wisdom beyond her years.

it was sitting in those booths drinking a house blend, smoking my camel lights, that i tore thru anything and everything written by alice walker. i’ve always been a much bigger fan of her prose than her poetry. she writes with a decidedly passionate feminist voice. and she challenged me as a woman to question the beliefs and expectations i unknowingly placed on other women, and myself. she created a new sense of discovery of what being a woman can be.

my favorite female poet of our time though is nikki giovanni. it wasn’t until years after Another Fool’s had closed it’s doors and become a bar called swindlefish, (what the fuck kind of name is that anyway?), that i discovered nikki. it was esta’ that shared her with me, all the way from seattle. nikki is tender, evocative, sexy, lustful, and passionate. she is coy and funny. she is a reminder to women of all ages, (as she is in her 60’s and still carrying passion in her words.), that we are all beautiful, sexual creatures who needn’t fear who we are. she is about capturing the power that is deep within every woman. that raw animalistic nature that is being a woman.

i want to sing

i want to sing
a piercing note
lazily throwing my legs
across the moon
my voice carrying all the way
over to your pillow
i want you

i need i swear to loll
about the sun
and have it smelt me
the ionosphere carrying
my ashes all
the way over
to your pillow
i want you

-nikki giovanni

it wasn’t always the feminist perspective that i read at Another Fool’s. i read poe there and the bell jar for a class. i know i did some studying, with ms. evans and drew. they were coffeehouse sluts too. there were others that would trickle in every now and then, but they seemed to prefer the front room. the front room was always my second choice. it had a kick ass brick and cement porch out back, with high, wide walls that were good for sitting. but their coffee sucked. i mean really sucked.

it’s been four and a half years now in the great state and i’ve yet to find a descent coffeehouse. there was a little place here in town, but it’s gone now. and besides, they were never open when i wanted them to be, after dark. and the coffee wasn’t that great. not great at all. in fact the only good thing about that place was it’s location. other than that, there are a couple of coffeehouses in m-town that aren’t too bad. brew bakers can make a descent mocha and their coffee isn’t too bitter. but that’s a drive for me. the only alternative is dunkin’ donuts. there isn’t even a starbucks. not that i would want to get comfy in a starbucks – they don’t make it too comfy for you, they really don’t want you sitting too long. in and out with no personality, is that what the world is coming to?

wait, what were we talking about again?


tonight’s’ listening: marc erelli – he’s usually in my repertoire in the late spring and the early fall. tonight’s favorite is summer night off the memorial hall recordings.