Tea With the Calligraphy Teacher

By Sally Zakariya

You pour tea into glasses shaped

like tulips in a Turkish painting

bulbous bottom, narrow waist

gentle flare above

the gold on the rim rubbed thin

by the touch of many fingers

 

Every week your students

bring their lessons and drink

strong black tea, stirring in sugar

holding the glasses lightly

by their faded golden rims

watching the red ink from your

pen bleed across their work

 

You like to tell them stories

of the old calligraphers

how they copied the sacred texts

how they learned from masters

passing the knowledge on

how they shared the secrets

of the work, the soot ink

the burnished paper, the perfect

pen for every script

 

Maybe your students will learn the art

or maybe not, but they will learn

respect for the pen’s precise line

for the tea and talk that flow through

their lessons vital as ink, as blood

 

Sally Zakariya’s poems have appeared in numerous journals, including The Broadkill Review, Edge, Boston Literary Magazine, Emerge, Third Wednesday, Evening Street Review, Southern Women’s Review, and Theodate. Her poetry has won prizes from the Poetry Society of Virginia and the Virginia Writers Club. She has published two chapbooks, Insectomania (2013) and Arithmetic and other verses (2011) and volunteers as poetry editor for Richer Resources Publications, for whom she is currently editing an anthology of poems about food and eating. Zakariya lives in Arlington, Virginia, and blogs at www.butdoesitrhyme.com.