Tea Poetry Contest 2022 – Finalists

Vote For Three Favorites

Please use the form at the bottom of this page to select your three favorite poets.  Or use this link to the form to vote.

The finalists are:

Leave your walker here and sit by me, dear.

The water is brewing, our adventure awaits. 

Watch for Cape Buffalo and little springbok. 

Tie your kanga around you and wait until you see

the beautiful hue of this rooibos tea!

So glad we could visit: come sit by me, dear. 

The water is brewing, our adventure awaits. 

The Gaiwan is ready. This white tea is true. 

Can you taste the dew off the plant of the Silver Needle poured for you?

Feeling lonely? Come sit by me, dear. 

The water is brewing, our adventure awaits. 

The  Assam and Darjeeling have quite different tastes. 

The spices are varied, the cities are busy. 

Perhaps you’d prefer a cup from Sikkim or Nilgiri?

Wait until next week when you sit by me, dear! 

We’ll brew the water, our adventure awaits. 

We still have so much to taste and to see

Yellow, purple, green and smoky tea.

     – Erin Bigart

The spider, she doth offer cream

And honey, if thou wilt allow her.

The creature makes of tea a rite

Like a play borrowed from dream,

A most lovely and enticing dream.

At length doth thou sit and drink,

Then some biscuits thou doth devour.

And now thine heart doth take to flight

As in love thou doth start to sink.

In love with this spider thou doth now sink.

The spider, she begins to smile,

And most would flee straight from her bower.

But thou stayeth as the spider’s knight

For her tea made thou a spiderphile,

A blissful, tea-soaked spiderphile.

The spider’s name is Geraldine.

Thine love for her will always flower.

And as her skill is far from slight,

Of teatime she shall reign thine queen,

Thine gorgeous, eight-legged brewing queen.

     – Andrea Marie Brokaw

Herbs Of Tea

To pass the time of day             I load up rounds of rhymes to say

And spray my verbal arsenal at any time of day

Intention is to meet myself half way         like touché

Capturing precious moments in life before they float away

blessed with a sip from a cup tea over runneth as is every day

            i pen to paper indent      to whom this may concern might i say?

my sweet to the crossing all teas natural remedy?

I’m Still perplexed by the ability of a camera to this day

Freezing an instant of something untouchable in such a way

i Ponder these and other conundrums as they arise

As they pass and subside my weary  subtle hazey eyes

another sip   i ingest    excitement        to my taste buds prior to digest

as my experience      into the veins of these coupled couplets  i inject 

my sweet to the crossing all teas natural remedy my now reckoning 

my life   yet in what perception       as i like repo   tow    and recollect

fur most appreciation in all aspects    for your time to you much respect

my written renditions i create              no relenting for any auditions

attempts to have my words play as a fiddle    this starving artist is riddled 

steaming to a simmer     gulps i  intake          life glows from its glitter

humbleness it instills               my boiling point      brought to now chills

through my sweet to the crossing all teas natural remedy        my heart spills

peaceful vibrations and herbal tea     make for tranquility 

it seems at stake    dare i question my gumption   in this state?

the uncertainty within my self conscious assumptioning

one day   may i have a family in which i diminish such questioning?

Longing to love and see cultures in all nooks and crannies

teas indigenous to their land maybe mixed with berries

The idea of having jammies in them my little half uncanny

well    ill be sipping my teas    of all varieties      til hit with the whammy

my sweet to the crossing all teas natural remedy      my call always answering

      – Joejuan Byrd

Then war comes

No routine 

No comfort

No solace

New pattern-

Fear

Death

Homelessness 

Smoke

Guns

Weekdays 

Weekends

Every day

     –  Joann Condino

–  Goron Gatalica 

I’d give anything

to sit together again

laughter entwining 

like steam 

over a cuppa

and talk as only

best friends do

we agree on hot tea

in the morning 

wonder if we’re sipping

simultaneously 

     – Kimberly Harrison

To Love

Step 1

Oh…the amber flow from the porcelain tip to the rounded-but slightly chipped…to get to where I now need to go—in my heart…I need to get…to go.

Slight splash up, bottom of this little, china cup, perched on an unmatched saucer that smothers a cloth linen I tarry from below.

I revere as I cradle all of you, because I wait…to my calming corner and more, a humble space here on a weathered chair out front  on a simple, tassle-knotted rug just outside —through just one door…

And out I walk…

Step 2

I nest you, my treat, on a sun-worn, cream colored, yet dented-lightly table, piled with reading and rocks to hold them down—the wait for be too—my outside, peaceful, simple space

And this mid-day moment lands upon me with peace, and comfort, allow me to calm—to leave the combat or this morning behind—this is grace.

Spring-sun peeks through the might oaks above, to alight the snaky, slithered steam-swirls over the vessel to my nostrils—-inhale, relax…let go…breathe.

…and then the sip enters my throat rightly and suddenly stops me to close my eyes and revel…and all of nature is here—the sip—exhales—inhales—relieve…

Oh..my mind, reaches for small reading glasses, my book on the table calls to read and escape.

This is what life should be for all. I pray…relief beyond what simple breath can give…

I am now alive with full life and liveliness. Herbs and flora and spice to tell me—it’s ok to be and to live..

For a beautiful moment, I can read in my wooded cathedral at peace..

I sip-slurp slightly—more, just a little more warmth from this warmed cup, and all my senses are alighted and aligned to relief. 

I then speak to myself-inside my head—and laugh—as I speak to my beautiful tea creation this universe gives me- to free me—to bind me to this love of this place—which frees me to love myself today—you —you all—all of you around me, things that bring me to this space—help me be whole.

And cheers this beautiful creation of warm, refreshment…and to the beautiful creation of space…and they all warmly whisper back to my soul.

Step 3.

I hold my beautiful tea now forward with both hands—and nod to it—and to all…and —now, because this space and love in my heart allows the worst to leave—to myself—and the worst is over and done…

The stress…the hurt…the pressure…whatever brought me here is gone…

Final step.

I love you.

     —  T. L. “Drew” Kreuser