Kindness Coffee

A Poem

Thank you to the kid the student the young man,

who noticed my card, declined, as I rushed to get a coffee before class, teaching class, me —

the teacher, the professor, the 40 year old woman,

the roles should have been reversed but, this is America, 2019 and I thank you

for saving my face, for saving my day, for letting this moment pass

with kindness, generosity and ease, my sense of humiliation and panic was brief and quickly comforted

and this too, is America 2019.

Jenny Justice is a poet mom who longs to bring poetry to life in ways that spark empathy, connection, joy, and feeling. She loves writing love poems, climate change awareness poems, poems for kids, and of course, poems about poetry and poets. You can follow her on Medium and at Jenny Justice, Writer. You can follow her poetry at Justice Poetic.