The Teaman Appears
On any Himalaya
Mr. Chetri claps twice
and a teaman appears
In his paws a rack of glasses
(wiped not washed)
and a Chinese Thermos
green with red flowers
For a rupee he pours cha
Darjeeling steams
with crude sugar
half milk
spiced with smoke
from the mystic wood
it’s steeped over
The test of tenure
is to scald fingers
and not
set the glass down
You learn to honor the taste
of cremated trees
In these mountains
all wood is rare wood
by J. Kevin Wolfe
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All poems from ‘The Year of Purple Lawn Furniture’ (c2001 by J. Kevin Wolfe), afree ebook of poems in various reader formats.
http://home.att.net/~jkevinwolfe/i dex.html
Bio: J. Kevin Wolfe’s poems have appeared in over 60 ezines and in a dozen print publications. ‘The Year of Purple Lawn Furniture’ is a collection of new poems.
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