Angele Ellis: Reading the Cup

Unfathomed, the deep blue sea

is black and bitter – Arabic coffee

boiled three times in a copper pot.

Drink to the silted grounds

in heart-scalding gulps.

Turn your cup over.

Fate will drip downward,

settling in cloud-negatives.

Believe me when I say:

I read what I see in the cup.

Rock, paper, scissors.

You will build a home,

receive the news you long for,

cut short your bad luck.

To scry is to be seer and sieve,

straining hope into each sign.

How else could we bear

to gaze into the dark?

From Arab on Radar (Six Gallery Press). Copyright 2008 Angele Ellis.

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