Eye catches steam
unfurling from my coffee mug
in morning light, iridescent,
driving kids to school
no time to transfer
to a travel mug
as would be sensible
to trap coffee and vapor inside,
which would have prevented delicate tendrils
capturing daybreak’s glow
and that millisecond of my attention.

How much mundane exquisiteness
we stifle with modern, sensible things.

Flights of fancy tethered
to practicality and function.

Cities once tried to
outdo each other with
buildings more grandly architectured,
more beautifully adorned,
now they order mass-produced
block building plans
and bulldoze wild spaces
to construct squat monstrosities
with no thought to
grandeur or beauty,
human potential
boxed in dull
cubicles inside.

Functionality,
efficiency,
productivity,
choking off time for leisurely
enjoying the beauty of
coffee mist on a Wednesday morning.

We aren’t supposed to
let the pretty “weeds”
grow where they sprout
in the vegetable garden
just because it’s nice
to be greeted by
their loveliness
among the broccoli
and turnips.

We aren’t supposed to
take the long way home
past fallow fields
brimming with sunny
yellow ragwort
when the more direct route
will get us to the next thing faster.

Yet I long to crucify utility,
resurrecting
beauty for its own sake.