Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, COFFEE PARTY, by ALBERTA JOHNS FLOWERS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

COFFEE PARTY, by                    
First Line: A friendly bunch?
Last Line: When they are in trouble.
Subject(s): Compassion; Hate


A friendly bunch?
Yeah, but a lot of hate underneath.
If hating and quarreling left visible scars
This crowd would look like Vimy Ridge.
Don't look now
But the one with the wet finger wave ...
When her Mamie was running with the Raffers kid,
I thought I ought to tell her.
A lot of thanks I got.
She didn't speak all summer.
... But when Bill lost his job,
She brought hot gingerbread.
The fat one having her third piece of cake ...
It was something she said about pies
I sent to the church supper.
(You should see the sugary frosting she makes.)
... But one night last winter
She lost a little boy.

The old girl with the shoulder straps
Wouldn't have been here a year ago.
She's the kind of a woman -- well, never mind.
... What changed things?
Oh, her husband was dragged in the field.
Just sits by the window reading "Western Romances"
And crying a little.

Seems like about the time
You settle down comfortably
To hating someone
For the rest of your life,
Something happens,
And you can't enjoy hating folks
When they are in trouble.





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