In Defense of Fresh & Clean

Jeffrey L. Taylor

April 9, 2023

I’ve drunk a lot of coffee,
from Army mess halls
to West Berlin konditorei,
American premium coffee houses,
roadside diners, and everything
in between.

The secret to good coffee
soon becomes clear.
The mess sergeant in that Army base
won Best Mess Hall in Europe,
three years running. You could tell
when he went on vacation —
a day before the coffee turned bad.
Crummy coffee led to decreased
consumption and the coffee
spiraled quickly down into stale.
When he returned the coffee urns
were again cleaned daily.

For good coffee,
keep the utensils clean
and the coffee freshly ground.

Jeffrey L. Taylor's first submitted poems won 1st place and runner-up in Riff Magazine's 1994 Jazz and Blues Poetry Contest.  Encouraged, he continues to write and has been published in di-vêrsé-city, The Perch, Gathering Storm Magazine, Red River Review, Illya's Honey, Enchantment of the Ordinary anthology, Texas Poetry Calendar, and Langdon Review.  Serving as sensei (instructor) to small children and professor to graduate students has taught him humility.