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Cleveland ice – foto by Smith

Since I’m on my 4th day of not drinking coffee, I figure it’s a good time to repost my coffee haiku written when Lady and I went up to a village called Tanetze high in the Sierra Madre Mountains in southern Mexico to pick coffee.

We lived with a Zapotec couple for three days. As I was picking the red coffee beans from the trees and being bitten by dozens of small vicious bugs that only bit on blood vessels, I asked what the vines wrapped around the trees were and was told they were vanilla bean vines. Also saw pineapples growing out of the ground, and two lizards making love on a tree stump when we broke for lunch. Magic experience, especially since we bought coffee from them later and maybe drank beans we’d helped pick.

It was a 40 minute steep trek down the mountain to get to the coffee trees, and an hour back up at the end of an exhausting day. I was so tired I almost fell off the mountain. As I picked, I looked down the mountain at the tops of clouds, and up at the clear blue hot sky.

The city of Oaxaca is a mile high, Tenetze even further up the mountains. The village was only 35 miles from Oaxaca as the crow flies, but the bus trip up the side of the mountains took 5 hours, and was scarier than any of the mad mountain Mexican bus rides I’ve seen in the movies.

Coffee Mountain, Mexico

Standing on Coffee
Mountain, the vanilla vine
dances, beckons me.

Coffee cherries red
against blue sky await
caffeine morning rush.

This liquid dark way
hot strong coiled energy
sleeping in my cup.

The kiss of coffee
on my stiff lips still asleep
bursts joy and new sun.

Two eyes sleepy, thin
Two hands seeking warmth, sun, source
Coffee to rescue

Dawn dark but coffee
black swirl in bottomless cup
brings me inner light

— Steven B. Smith, 2008


Cleveland ice – foto by Smith

2 Responses

  1. Sipped this morning’s bits in cup. Love.

    Imploring the universe for more coffee mountain time under blue sky for you and eye.

    Must do a vacation soon at least.

    Love you.

  2. wonder blog… very special experience…. thanks for sharing…. can imagine how beautiful it was…
    I hope you will both have a chance for another similar experience.

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