Bitter Tea

13 August 2025

Today I had a cup of teaI drank it down with so much gleeWould have spit it out once before¹No sugar for me, no, nevermore

That bitter drink I had todayConjures within so much to sayOnce who I was, now who I amComes rushing at me like a ram

Be still my dear, and do not shoutIt’s unseemly to show but a poutWhat once was can never beFor all we have is eternity²

Notes

By the editor.

Infants are born preferring sweet foods and rejecting sour and bitter tastes, so a liking for bitter tea is learned. The poem takes a small taste-change as the picture of a large self-change: the person who spat it out is as gone as the child. source ↩
In What the Ghosts Actually Are she calls time imaginary and says creation is happening now, from everywhere. You Touched the Flame draws the same conclusion about regret: “There is only what you did, and what you do.” This is the poem that says it with a teacup. ↩