Coffee, My Love
According to the Food and Drug Administration,
caffeine is a highly addictive substance
You may not see it that way because its effects
lurk in our coffee cups
But from the moment
you take the first sip
your neurotransmitters flip around between receptors
like they’re acrobats
Coffee is my liquid high
my dopamine receptors crave the
sugar laden, warmer than a hug
feeling I get when I swish it between my teeth
According to Psychology Today,
every time I hear your voice
I get the same feeling
because your voice tastes like coffee
and I can’t quite shake the feeling-
that rush of excitement when you say my name
And I’ve stayed up two nights now
drinking espresso shots
like they’re my life force
because I need to stay awake
because I might see your name
in my caller ID
According to experts,
love is a drug
it starts by tickling your brain chemicals
before getting you hooked
and keeping you belted into that roller coaster
even when you feel it getting a little too fast
But as time has passed
I think it’s possible to get away with more
so I drink the echo of your voice like my frappucinos
in the morning
your random jokes tickle my brain cells
and I can’t shake this feeling of
being in your grip because I kind of like it
and even when I crashed last time
it didn’t matter because I was with you
I was with you the first time I ever had a drink
you showed me the way it works
and I didn’t really like it
but I finished the whole thing anyways
because I was with you
because even though the aftertaste
was so bitter
I couldn’t quite shake the way it bound to
my tongue
According to professionals,
the more of a drug you take
the less it grips you
the less you become okay with the sweet and low
and the more you want the real sugar
because the more coffee you drink
the more you settle for bitter
And I like to tell myself that
maybe that’s the reason
you stopped answering my text messages
maybe we spent so much time together
that one meeting isn’t enough
to bond me to your memory
Two days have passed
and I’m still up all night
thinking about the way that first coffee tasted
in the back of my throat
I have been drinking espresso shots
like they’re raindrops
so I can feel the same way
you do
According to the poet,
it’s not healthy to stay up two nights
amped on oxytocin
and as my fingers tremble from
anxiety - I mean my 2:00 pm coffee -
I write to you.
I hope you’ll open your mailbox more than
you pull up your inbox
because I haven’t heard from you in a while
and I want to see if you’d like to go out
for coffee