“Earth from the Coffee” by Srija Somaka

Is this what the boar lifted life out of the ocean for?

Did he know that one of the cells on the Earth he pushed up with his tusks would turn into me, another still, into you?

Because I am here, playing with coffee stirrers and you are there, avoiding my eyes.

You send me a message, concealed into the sugar you spilled on the table,

Hidden in the folds of your cardigan,

Morse-coded in your nervous taps.

But of course, I couldn’t read it. 

And I am left wondering:

Is this what the boar lifted life out of the ocean for? 

For me to fiddle with coffee stirrers and for you to vanish?

Anyways.

I’ve found other uses for my coffee stirrers now.

I say these oddly placed words and I mean that I have found something in my life that is not, well, you.

There are words you don’t understand and feelings you don’t know that I do.

Maybe it’s the oceans between us or maybe it’s that I’ve realized there are oceans inside me

But now that you’re gone, and I’m fine,

I think- no, I know – that I just miss you.

I can try to tell you why I believe in a God that has wronged me and I can try to teach you how to endure pain.

Maybe you’ll understand. Or maybe you’ll pretend to understand because you’ll have missed me too. 

Either way, we’ll come to terms with this world we were born onto.

Srija Somaka is a first-year Genetics major who is always looking for new background music to make her day-to-day activities just that much more sensational. An avid reader and writer, she always has a book and a pen on her. If you see her around campus, don’t be afraid to stop her for a conversation; she loves meeting new people and learning their stories.