For me, the best vacation time are the slow simple bits: a stretch of sandy beach, a surprisingly good lunch, a spectacular view that cost only a little effort to climb up to see it and of course, a great cup of coffee.  Most of these moments have been shared with my husband John, whom I am so grateful also enjoys a meandering pace.  This picture, to which the poem refers, is of our coffee sleeve collection displayed prominently in the kitchen.

Coffee Dates

Where the bridge spans
the Siuslaw River, we stopped
to sip sweet pulled espresso shots
while a busker’s song carried us
as on the river, smooth and steady
in a ‘all at once’ slide, the way I imagine
the universe yawns in circumvolutions,
suspending body and mind in vacation time.

As we rose to leave I slipped the sleeve
from the cup and into my pocket, the first
of all these simple souvenirs, that honour
hours of time spent leisurely together.

© 2016 Laurel Archer

Prompt — ekphrastic poem — describing a picture or work of art.  And a food poem — coffee being of course one of the food or five food groups.