Poetry: Reinhart’s Cup

A green cup
A handle for holding
Ridges? Simple decoration.
Held eight ounces easily
This was your Grandpa’s cup.
He loved that cup.

The coffee doesn’t taste right to me
Defected glaze, mother said,
Don’t try to drink from it.
I used it to hold my pens.

She removed the pens and scissors
That had been stabbed into place
She turns it upside down
A paper clip on the bottom shakes out
Here, you can have it,
If you want it.
Yes I do

Objects from loved ones
Transmit on a frequency
Like a radio to the past
Grandpa drank his black
Leaning against a tractor step
Two hours of work already put in
The sun not even half way to noon

A Minnesotan neighbor made the cup
Hand thrown with love
Fingers shaping the shell to life
I’ll take it, thank you
Better than a cup of any ol’ Joe.
Reinhart’s cup is welcomed here.

photo credit: http://www.fieldstonehilldesign.com/2011/03/object-hand-thrown-pottery-mugs.html