3rd Place Winner of the Summer Poetry Contest: Coffee Cups - Hagger Said

stateless, the children

learn to dissolve

into sweet and

palpable grains

of sugar

swirling in a swamp

of grounded

and roasted beans,

great measures

are taken

to balance

coffee cups,

successfully leaving

 a mild aftertaste

 — after all

who throws out sugar?

I wonder when

they will taste

the sweetness of

a satisfied quench

without spiking

their insulin

 — refined, they don’t

digest naturally

like fruits from trees,

so they will

continue to grind

for a place in

new hands.

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