We Play Scrabble
My friend Mara reminds me that when we both worked at the bead shop in Blacksburg, I taped poems to the cash register… It’s all I can do… not to… say “Buckle my shoe”… after “one, two” …when I’m counting out the money…
She writes a poem for me… We play scrabble…because we are both…poets who like to dance…because we like crayons…out of the package…because dyscalculia…stutters our numbers…
When we play Scrabble, she brings homemade pizza with feta and olives, and I add the pesto, made from my garden and then frozen into blocks in an ice cube tray.
She reads more of the poem that she wrote for me… We play scrabble…because there’s snow buckling your trampoline…because there’s a triple spiral on your bathroom wall…because you outed me on your weblog…
The last time we played, she had a brand new sketch pad and a box of crayola crayons. She wrote the poem while she was waiting for me to take my turn and smoking a cigarette on my front porch.
At the Spoken Word Open Mic this past Saturday night, she referred to me to others as “Floyd’s Poet Laureate” because she knows it irritates me and makes me blush. “You know I can’t write poetry like you and when it comes to performance you blow me away,” I answered.
I plunge my hand in the Scrabble bag to see who will go first. “Do you think you can will good letters? Use your psychic abilities to pick the best ones?” I ask her as I pull out an E.
“Oh, heck yeah. You blow on the bag for good luck…like this,” she demonstrates as she also pulls out an E and lays it on the table to match mine.
Photo: Mara challenges me to a game while drinking from the Scrabble mug she gave me for Christmas. Compare the small cup of take-out coffee to her right (not to be confused with the roll of paper towels) with the big jug of coffee (white with red top) that she brought to my house last time we played, and then ask yourself, ‘is it any wonder she won the game in which she clearly had a “coffee advantage” but lost this one to the home team?’
January 25th, 2006 9:32 am
That’s the kind of coffee I like (in big jugs): black, hot and neverending! You are lucky to have a friend to play Scrabble with.
January 25th, 2006 12:47 pm
My brother calls coffee the “nectar of the gods”. He started drinking coffee as a little kid when he would sneak in and finish our mom’s half empty cup after she left for school. Now, you don’t talk to him until he has had at least one cup. Until three years ago I didn’t drink it either. If I got the coffee pot out Nyssa would ask if Uncle Stephen was coming for a visit. Now give me a Starbuck venti white chocolate mocha with almond and I’m in heaven for at least an hour.
January 25th, 2006 1:05 pm
Colleen – Hello, Michele sent me! Reading your blog gives me the feeling that you are a very peaceful, intellectual person… you and I couldn’t be more different! That’s the crazy thing about blogging, isn’t it… you can connect with so many other people, and see things through so many different sets of eyes.
January 25th, 2006 1:08 pm
For me it’s nothing fancy…just a good old cup of black tea. But this is a coffee drinking country and most restaurants don’t even know how to make (brew) a good cup of tea. (The water has to be boiling and poured over the teabag right away and not left on the saucer while the water gets cold.) I understand the coffee drinker’s love of the drink via my love of tea.
January 25th, 2006 1:32 pm
Floyd’s Poet Laureate
While I feel like I know why this would irritate you, it seems an apt designation.
And this bit from Mara: because dyscalculia…stutters our numbers….
Utter genius. 🙂
January 25th, 2006 1:59 pm
Hi! I love reading about your wonderful friends! You are blessed!
January 25th, 2006 2:11 pm
Coffee and Scrabble – a great combo.
So who goes first when you both pull out an E?
January 25th, 2006 3:37 pm
Kathy, I knew you’d eventually smell the coffee brewing over here and come around. We had to pick again and I ended up going first. Kathleen, another friend also played. She and I drank green tea.
Jennifer, Mara, who is a re-occuring character on my blog, is 20 years my junior and quickly surpassing any writing talent I may have. The reason her proclaimed title for me is irritating (which may not be the right word) is that it’s something I don’t feel I can live up to. I bet you guessed that.
January 25th, 2006 9:19 pm
Mara sounds like a wonderful friend to have.
(and Scrabble rocks!)
January 26th, 2006 12:12 am
I don’t drink coffee, but I like my caffiene. What a sweet way to spend a day. (I do love green tea!!)
January 26th, 2006 1:08 am
O love to read about your scrabble games with Mara, and where you are each time, and what each of you are drinking and/or eating! I feel like I am there with you and that is a lovely comforting feeling, Colleen…
January 26th, 2006 1:48 am
I have decided to pull out the tin of crayons that were tucked away years ago.
January 26th, 2006 4:14 am
Hi Colleen..Respoding to your comment on my blog about the party…As I recall, Colleen, I had to buy something White, so I would have
something to wear at this wonderful gathering..(I love wearing color,
including black!)
A number of years later…maybe ten, I had a White Party,
myself…That is, everyone had to wear white…!
It was so much fun to see everyone dressed in white, yet staying within
their own style….Hmmm, it may be time to do that again! (lol)….
Always good to hear from you…
January 26th, 2006 2:16 pm
This sounds like a wonderful friendship.
Your homemade pizza with feta and olives sounds very tasty.
January 26th, 2006 9:14 pm
A game of scrabble. A pizza with olives and feta. What could be better!?!
January 27th, 2006 9:19 am
I love your friend’s picture…it’s like, “You best not be taking that.”. cute. Sounds like you two have a great time and are both very creative. Your pizza sounds wonderful!
January 29th, 2006 6:31 pm
Okay, I don’t know whether I’m salivating over the Scrabble, the coffee, or the pizza….