Tea & Tragedy

Editor’s note: I started a Substack in October, called Poetry for life. Every Wednesday it guides you in how to integrate poetry into how you write and how you live. Starting today, I’m going to share one of my own poems here that goes with the post of the week.

Tea & Tragedy is about my experience at Titanic Belfast on the 100-year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, and it features a poem by Laura Lamb Brown-Lavoia titled “Titanic.”

Drink It All

Tea master Genshitsu Sen says,
of tea,

“There is a sweetness in the astringency.”

So I oversteep my tea until it is bitter-
sweet. With each sip I say,
of other bitternesses,

“No, thank you.”

And lift my cup