What a pot of coffee can create

       In the text 19 Varieties of Gazelle, the poem "Arabic Coffee" really caught my attention. I found my self discovering about what a simple pot of coffee can stir up. Coffee, like many other beverages or foods, can bring people closer. We experience these interactions every day, weather it be during dinner with your family or meeting an old friend  at the local cafe for a coffee. Where ever you go, family and friends gather around the table for  food, drink and of course, good conversation.
       In the poem, there were many metaphors and hidden meanings. There were two metaphors in particular that seemed to keep repeating themsleves creating a "theme" for the poem. The first metaphor I caught on to right away was the sharing of cominalities between people you never thought you'd associate with. Everyone at times can feel annoyed and irritated with family or friends but once you sit down and take the time to get to know someone, you realize how similar they are to you and afterall, they are just people and you realize no one is perfect. This coffe symbolizes a bond between people, almost something they can use to "break the ice" (Were all here for the coffe, so we might as well make the best of it). Another metaphor used in this poem is religion. Having faith in something and believing in man kind. It's extremely easy to give up and loose hope, but it makes someone that much stronger when they believe in something bigger than themselves. There is a line in the poem that demonstrates the power of faith. In the second stanza, the author is describing the clothes on a line and how they will always be there when they are  needed. The line reads, "You will live long enough to wear me". (38)
       Not only are there several metaphors in this poem, but there are many ways that the reader can interpret them. In the second stanza, it becomes confusing to read because there is so much substance in thoes few lines. The first section discusses worries and dissapointments people may experience in life. However the stanza also suggests that because this family is all sitting down for a cup of coffee, life becomes more comforting because drinking coffee is a familar tradition. There are sentence structure patterns that also occur through out this stanza. In the begining, the sentences were short and stagnant. However once the ideas of the stanza started becomming more understandable, it started to flow. It was similar to a conversation; at first, ideas are scattered and vague, but as you start feeling more comforatable, the conversation gets deeper and more meaningful; it starts flowing.
       Arabic Coffe helped me to realize that poems aren't just a bunch of meaningless words put together to sound pretty, but they are up to the reader to interpret. This poem in particular was very intriguing to me because I could relate to it and I know for a fact that every other person in the world could as well. Just like a cup of coffee, this poem too became comforting.