Poem of the week: Angela Blacklock-Brown

Two writers visited twelve Edinburgh coffee shops for the sake of their art, were inspired, and wrote up the results in their pamphlet, Edinburgh Coffee Break (Blacklock Press, £5.50). The second poet is Jennifer Alderson; the venue in the poem below is Telford College.

Café Culture

Student sized servings

with small not tall for the regular shot,

the buzz and the bizz of a high street shop.

Stop. This is what's new on the college campus.

Queue for a coffee in the Costa Café,

small size, tall size, black, brown, latte,

cappuccino, mochaccino, lava java,

hiss, whisk, steam dream,

gurgle, struggle, filter, alter,

add another taste twist,

caramel, cinnamon, hazelnut hotshot,

vanilla cool, caffeine fix.

Percolate round with the whiz kid smart set,

never mind student debt, not quite broke yet,

feel good factor, go for food,

bacon butties, blueberry muffins,

wraps 'n' baps 'n' exotic stuffings.

Take time off from the study wheel,

all sit down on tubular steel.

You can borrow Edinburgh Coffee Break from the Scottish Poetry Library, which also lends by post. Tel: [phone], e-mail [e-mail], or visit www.spl.org.uk