“They would be more or less mad for similar reasons.”

The Poem
Poem (I lived in the first century of world wars) - Muriel Rukeyser

I lived in the first century of world wars.
Most mornings I would be more or less insane,
The newspapers would arrive with their careless stories,
The news would pour out of various devices
Interrupted by attempts to sell products to the unseen.
I would call my friends on other devices;
They would be more or less mad for similar reasons.
Slowly I would get to pen and paper,
Make my poems for others unseen and unborn.
In the day I would be reminded of those men and women,
Brave, setting up signals across vast distances,
Considering a nameless way of living, of almost unimagined values.
As the lights darkened, as the lights of night brightened,
We would try to imagine them, try to find each other,
To construct peace, to make love, to reconcile
Waking with sleeping, ourselves with each other,
Ourselves with ourselves. We would try by any means
To reach the limits of ourselves, to reach beyond ourselves,
To let go the means, to wake.
I lived in the first century of these wars.

The Beverage

Gula Melaka Cold Brew

I went to pick up lunch last week and purchased a coffee -- Gula Melaka Cold Brew on special at the bakery. I was really enjoying it, but then I spilled half of it into the cup holder of my mom’s car. So I went back to the bakery on Saturday to order it again. It, again, was great.

I then decided to learn what gula melaka is because I had no clue what I had ordered either time. It’s palm sugar! So yes, the reason the cold brew was good was because it’s made with a bright Panama coffee bean (asked about that at the bakery) and then sweetened with palm sugar. It’s really light and fruity and good. And my mom’s car still smells kind of like coffee, so I need to work on addressing that issue. But yes, I liked it because I am addicted to sugar because biology wants that for us all.