Barack Obama’s Straight Talk Espresso

Coffee’s an essence of night; stilled in

the darkness that brings it, this darkness-distillate

brings out the dark.  Some, afraid

of waking, or yearning for the comforts of sleep…

some choose to cover it, soften it, milk as

the quilting and sugar as the kiss.  Others

are afraid of the power of day; they weaken

morning’s night-purge, brewing for smell

and not for taste.  I think (and I think

I’m not alone in thinking this) that

that is the principal problem with contemporary

politics in America: euphemism’s brought

with it a taste like fear of the rotten truth.