Bookstore Date

During my junior year of college, I was lucky enough to take a poetry writing class with the amazingly talented Nikki Giovanni. She is friends with the likes of Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou, and her work is widely known and celebrated. During class, she often went off on rants. One day in particular, she began talking about why people don't go on dates at bookstores anymore. She challenged each of us to write a poem about a bookstore date. We got extra points if it was an acrostic poem. This poem is one of my favorites I have ever written.

Bookstore Date
by Morgan Coyner

“Black coffee. I order, he pays. I
Only add a little bit of cream.
Our words are few, nervous and unfamiliar.
Kindly, hesitantly, he grabs my hand and
Soon we are amidst the shelves.
Travel books stand before us,
Offering us the world, if we want to take it.
Russia and Rome and Rio call to us,
Enchanting us with their mystery.
Dubai and Delhi beckon us to them
And we promise to answer.
Together. And the perfect evening ends with a kiss and
Excitement of a journey yet to come.”