Whether by hopefulness or habit
and before the diagonals of morning sun
have drained the tiles of their bright chill,
my toes trace a grid of settled grout
toward the coffee in the kitchen.
​
My spoon circles the bottom of a bowl
of leftover pasta reheated for breakfast,
rooting me in the particular curves
of this space while the caffeine rounds
off the sharp edges of sleep.
Tense shrieks from a violin trio at the window
Draw my line of sight to the cutting board
where four blood red pepper spears are standing
on their ends in perpendicular defiance
of the unattended knife blade.
Ryan Keating is a writer, pastor, and winemaker on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. His work can be found in publications such as Saint Katherine Review, Ekstasis Magazine, Amethyst Review, Macrina Magazine, Fathom, Dreich, Vocivia, and Miras Dergi, where he is a regular contributor in English and Turkish.